Order: Lecanorales       Family: Psoraceae Species: Protoblastenia rupestris Growth type crustose. Photos: On roadside wall. Ballingeary, Cork, SW Ireland. The scurfy or areolate greenish-brown or orange-grey thallus can be +/- absent. Dull-orange apothecia have a greenish tinge when wet and become convex and distorted. Apothecia not in pits. The asci are 8-spored with ellipsoid spores, 8-17 x 5-8 µm. Very common throughout Ireland on mortar, limestone and other calcareous substrata. Apothecia: K+ crimson Similar: P. calva and P. incrustans. On hard, natural limestone.

Protoblastenia rupestris on wall. January 2009