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Usnea evansii Mot.
Coastal Bushy-beard
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: Mesic hardwood forests, dry woodlands and swamps
Pale green thallus of terete branches with an elastic (when wet) or hard central cord or axis; thallus shrubby, branches often with low ridges running longitudinally or spiraling, & with short, acute-tipped fibrils arranged in lines along these; soralia & isidia absent; apothecia usually present, sometimes abundant, at first cupped then becoming flat, with fibrils along edges (yellow fibrils in photo above atypical); medulla white, loose & cottony; axis thick, white to pinkish; MICROSCOPY: medullar tissue producing short, blunt-ended red crystals that form rounded clumps in KOH 10% solution wet mount under high magnification; CHEMISTRY: medulla PD+ orange, K+ orange-red (galbinic acid); FIELD ID possible with care & experience, though lab work may be needed
2 other typically fertile Usnea without soredia or isidia also occur in the Coastal Plain: U. strigosa & U. endochrysea (indistinguishable without dissection to measure spores), often with a red medulla, but when medulla is occasionally white, with different chemistry (norstictic, psoromic or thamnolic acid, or acid-deficient); both lack ridges & ordered fibrils on branches
Usnea baileyi, U. dimorpha
Mesic hardwood forests, dry woodlands & swamps, on hardwood bark, mostly Quercus
Corticolous fruticose lichenized fungus, photobiont a green alga (Trebouxia?).
None
Coastal Plain
Unknown
Rare, though probably under-collected along coast
None
Brodo, I. M. 2001. Lichens of North America. 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.
Lendemer, J. C., R. C. Harris & A. M. Ruiz. 2016. A review of the lichens of the Dare Regional Biodiversity Hotspot in the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain of North Carolina, Eastern North America. Castanea 81: 1-77.
Malcolm Hodges
2 August 2022
