#phaeophyscia

Phaeophyscia hispidula

Whiskered shadow lichen

While lichens are not commonly consumed, there are a few areas where some lichen species are eaten. Nepal actually has a long history of lichen cuisine, and P. hispidula is to this day harvest for commercial sale and eaten. This foliose lichen has a lobes which are gray/gray-brown when dry and light green when wet--a characteristic commonly shared amongst members of its genus. The lower surface of the lobes is black, with prominent black, white-tipped rhizines which stick out along the lobe margins. The lobe margins and occasionally lobe surface are dotted with pustule-like soralia producing granular or isidioid soredia. P. hispidula rarely produces apothecia, which have rhizinate margins and dark brown or black discs. It grows on both bark and rock in boreal and montane habitats.

images: source | source | source

Phaeophyscia constipata

Pincushion shadow lichen

You know what? I got no jokes. I'm not going there. Just moving on past that scientific name . . . This little foliose (or subfruticose) lichen has thin, narrow lobes that grow erect or loosely attached to the substrate in tiny little pincushiony tufts up to 3 cm wide. The upper surface is grayish-brown when dry, and grayish-green when moist, and the lower surface is cream to pale brown with simple rhizines along the lobe edges. It only rarely produces apothecia, which have brown disks and smooth margins. P. constipata grows on moss and plant debris in boreal, high mountain areas of Europe and North America, with a rather rare and scattered distribution. It might just be easily overlooked, and further work is needed to assess its global range.

images: source | source | source

Phaeophyscia hirsuta

Phaeophyscia pusilloides

Pompom shadow lichen

This foliose lichen grows in rounded rosettes up to 3 cm in diameter. It has narrow, elongated lobes closely attached to the substrate. The upper surface is gray-brown when dry, and bright green when wet! And the lower surface is black with long, simple rhizines. It produces powdery soredia from capitate or labriform soralia on the lobe tips. It only rarely produces apothecia, which have a rhizinate margin and a brown disc. It has a green algal photobiont. P. pusilloides grows on nutrient-enriched, deciduous trees in temperate, montane valleys in North America and Europe.

images: source | source

Phaeophyscia squarrosa

Scaly shadow lichen

Using this lichen for my regular reminder that lichens are NOT plants. Lichens are an association between an obligate fungal host (mycobiont) and one or more photosynthesizing partners (a green algae and/or a cyanobacteria). It is a fungus using unicellular organisms that photosynthesize so it can cosplay as a plant.

Phaeophyscia adiastola

Powder-tipped shadow lichen

One of the reasons why identifying lichens is so difficult is color. Lichens of the same species may vary in color depending on how hydrated and healthy they are, how much sun they have been exposed to, how thick their pruina is, chemical differences, and genetic variation. And not to mention that the way people interpret colors can be pretty subjective. Just look at P. adiastola here. Sometimes bright green, sometimes pale blue-green, sometimes gray, sometimes brown. There is no good way to use color as a diagnostic characteristic of this lil guy. So you've gotta take into account lots of other features, not just color. This foliose lichen grows in irregular patches or orbicular wreaths 6-10 cm in diameter. It has linear lobes with short, rounded branches at the apices. It produces coarse soredia along the lobe margins and apices. The lower surface is mostly black with lighter lobe tips and simple, black rhizines. P. adiastola has sessile apothecia with a thick margin and a black-brown disc. It colonizes bark and rock, and has been found in North America, East Africa, and New Zealand--a pretty unique distribution pattern that I am very curious about. Maybe its color variability has made it difficult to identify in other areas connecting these two localities? Anyway, if you come at me and say something like "hey, I saw this cool lichen. It was green-gray and round. What was it?" I will not have an answer for you. Or too many answers for you, which is as good as no answer.

images: source | source | source

Phaeophyscia decolor 

Starburst shadow lichen

I highly recommend looking at lichens after a rain storm. Many like P. decolor here really change their hue when the photobiont cells inside become hydrated and active. This foliose lichen grows in wreath-like patches up to 4 cm in diameter, with linear lobes radiating from a center of sparse to numerous lobules which erode away with age. The upper surface is gray to gray-brown when dry and olive-green when wet, whereas the lover surface is black with simple black rhizines. It produces sessile (sitting atop of the surface) apothecia which have a prominent (sometimes lobulate or rhizinate) margin and a flat, black disc. P. decolor grows on rock and moss in North America, Europe, and eastern Asia. If you don't get a lot of rain where you live, you can also just, you know, spray the lichens with some water. They probably won't know the difference.

images: source | source

Phaeophyscia nigricans

Powder-headed shadow lichen

This foliose lichen grows on lots of stuff in lots of places, but it is often overlooked because it's small and is, well, camouflage green. So its range and habitat preferences are not well known, and more work is needed to ID this little guy out in the wild. It grows in rosettes which are at most 1.5 cm in diameter. It has indented, narrow lobes with marginal isidia, and only rarely produces apothecia. So maybe you can go out there and try and find him? And post your findings on iNaturalist to help lichenologists find him too? K thanks!

images: source | source | source | source