Loading profile. Please wait . . .
Zwackhia viridis (Pers. ex Ach.) Poetsch & Schied.
Banana-spored Scribble
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: None
Element Occurrences (EOs) in Georgia: 0
Habitat Summary for element in Georgia: Woodlands, forests and swamps
Brown, gray or green thallus thin, continuous; lirellae usually abundant, black, sessile, closed, sometimes branched, often cracked & roughened; MICROSCOPY: spores colorless, banana-shaped, with walls on either side thickest at middle, 12-14-celled, 8/ascus; FIELD ID not possible, best confirmed in lab with dissection to examine spores
Of the Opegrapha-type lichens with long, black, closed lirellae, O. candida has 4-celled spores & puffy, mostly uncracked, smooth lirellae, & O. vulgata has 6-celled spores; both those species tend to have pale thalli
None
Woodlands, forests & swamps; substrates: hardwood bark: 27% Acer, 26% Quercus, 8% Carya, 8% Ilex, 7% Liriodendron & 24% other hardwoods or unknowns; 1 record from Pinus cone scales
Corticolous crustose lichenized fungus; photobiont a species of alga in genus Trentepohlia
None
Statewide in lowlands; absent from the Southern Blue Ridge
Unknown
Common
None
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 Unpublished manuscript, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY.
Malcolm Hodges
3 August 2022
