Order: Ostropales       Family: Thelotremataceae Species: Thelotrema lepadinum Growth type crustose. Photos: On Holly. Ballingeary and Gougane Barra, Cork, Ireland. Variable, the shiny greyish-cream thallus is thick or thin, smooth or uneven. Numerous barnacle-like raised apothecia in warts with large central opening. Discs are usually visible, +/- white-pruinose. In moist, shady sites apothecia are larger, more open and ulcerose. Microscope photographs below. Host to the lichenicolous fungus Skyttea nitschkei. Found throughout Ireland, usually on sheltered smooth-barked trees, occasionally on acidic rocks. Chemical reactions negative. In oceanic sites could be confused with Thelotrema petractoides.

Microscope photographs



Thelotrema lepadinum. December 2008 and August 2009