Loading profile. Please wait . . .

---

Federal Protection: No US federal protection

State Protection: No Georgia state protection

Global Rank: GNR

State Rank: SNR

Element Locations Tracked in Biotics: No

SWAP 2015 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN): No

SWAP 2025 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN): No

2025 SGCN Priority Tier:

Element Occurrences (EOs) in Georgia: 0

Habitat Summary for element in Georgia: Forests, woodlands and swamps

---

Description

Pale greenish-white, continuous thallus, slightly textured to lumpy; apothecia within thalline, straight-sided warts made up of several rounded cusps surrounding a group of dark ostioles at a sunken summit (warts resemble molars--see photo above); flat area at ostioles often colored with faint yellow pigment, ostioles only occasionally raised into nipples; MICROSCOPY: spores ellipsoid, colorless, simple, 8/ascus; CHEMISTRY: cortex (around ostiole) K-, KC+ orange, C-/+ yellow, PD-, UV+ orange (sometimes relatively weak orange-pink on warts only), medulla—all tests negative; FIELD ID: well-developed specimens easy to identify (see photo); poorly developed specimens most easily confused with Pertusaria texana, requiring PD test to confirm

Similar Species

Rare montane Pertusaria appalachensis has only medulla UV+ orange; abundant P. texana has stronger UV+ orange reaction on the cortex, PD+ orange medulla, & ostioles frequently raised into nipples; both those species tend to have sloping warts

Related Rare Species

Pertusaria appalachensis

Habitat

Forests, woodlands & swamps; substrates: hardwood bark: 26% Quercus, 22% Acer, 12% Carya, 9% Liriodendron & 24% other hardwoods or unknowns; conifer bark: 5% Juniperus & 1 record on Taxodium

Life History

Corticolous crustose lichenized fungus, photobiont a green alga in Trebouxia

Survey Recommendations

None

Range

Statewide

Threats

Unknown

Georgia Conservation Status

Common

Conservation Management Recommendations

None

References

Brodo, I. M. 2001. Lichens of North America. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn.

Brodo, I. M. 2016. Keys to lichens of North America: revised and expanded. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn.

Esslinger, T. L. 2021. A cumulative checklist for the lichen-forming, lichenicolous and allied fungi of the continental United States and Canada. Version 24. Opuscula Philolichenum 20: 100-394. 

Harris, R. C. & D. Ladd. 2005. Preliminary draft: Ozark lichens. Unpublished manuscript, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY.

Tripp, E. A. & J. C. Lendemer. 2020. Field guide to the lichens of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville.
 

Authors of Account

Malcolm Hodges

Date Compiled or Updated

1 July 2022