Order: Lecanorales       Family: Physciaceae Species: Phaeophyscia orbicularis Growth type foliose. Photos: On rock and deciduous tree-trunk. Cork, SW Ireland. Small pale grey to brownish-grey orbicular thallus which can become bright green when wet. Long, palmately-divided lobes with black undersides and dark, protruding rhizines. Dense creamy-greenish soralia, mottled bluish-black. Apothecia are infrequent. Common on nutrient-rich bark, twigs and stone, also found on concrete and roads in urban areas. Orange-yellow patches on cortex and soredia are K+/- purple. Medulla: K- Similar: Hyperphyscia adglutinata. White under-surface, few whitish rhizines.

     


Above: Phaeophyscia orbicularis on tree trunk. Macroom, Co.Cork. February 2009