Polychidium muscicola (Sw.) Gray

Nat. Arrang. Brit. Pl.: 402, 1821. Basionym: Lichen muscicola Sw. - N. Acta Reg. Soc. Sci. Upsal., 4: 248, 1784.
Synonyms: Collema muscicola (Sw.) Ach.; Homodium muscicola (Sw.) Nyl.; Leptogium muscicola (Sw.) Fr.; Polychidium kalkuense Räsänen
Description: Thallus small-fruticose, filamentous, brown-black, glossy at least at the tip of young branches, forming loosely attached, small, up to 1.5 cm tall and up to 3 cm wide cushions. Branches smooth, slender, (40-)60-125(-200) µm thick, narrower toward the often nodulose apices, divergently and dichotomously or palmately divided, with a few, whitish rhizine-lke structures at the base. Cortex paraplectenchymatous, of 1-3 layers of polygonal cells; central part of thallus of loosely interwoven hyphae in young branches to almost paraplectenchymatous in old ones. Apothecia lateral, sessile and strongly constricted at base, up to 1.5(-2) mm across, with a red-brown, concave to flat disc and a rather thick, smooth, raised, somemehow paler, usually persistent proper margin. Proper exciple paraplectenchymatous, 60-75 µm wide; epithecium brownish; hymenium colourless, 85-110 µm high, I+ blue; paraphyses simple, 1-2 µm thick at mid-level, the apical cells swollen, up to 5 µm wide; hypothecium colourless to pale brown. Asci 8-spored, broadly cylindrical, the apices thickened with internal, amyloid sheets. Ascospores 1-septate, hyaline, sometimes weakly pigmented when old, spindle-shaped or ellipsoid (often within the same apothecium), (15-)18-25(-30) x (4.5-)5-7(-11) µm. Pycnidia dark, not common. Conidia hyaline, bacilliform, 1.5-3.5 x c. 1 µm. Photobiont cyanobacterial (Nostoc, the cells mostly in clusters, rarely in short chains). Spot tests: all negative. Chemistry: without lichen substances.
Growth form: Crustose
Substrata: soil, terricolous mosses, and plant debris
Photobiont: cyanobacteria, filamentous (e.g. Nostoc, Scytonema)
Reproductive strategy: mainly sexual
Most common in areas with a humid-warm climate (e.g. most of Tyrrenian Italy)

Commonnes-rarity: (info)

Alpine belt: absent
Subalpine belt: extremely rare
Montane belt: very rare
Dry submediterranean belt: extremely rare
Humid submediterranean belt: very rare
Padanian area: absent

pH of the substrata:

12345
info

Solar irradiation:

12345
info

Aridity:

12345
info

Eutrophication:

12345
info

Poleotolerance:

0123
info

Altitudinal distribution:

123456
info

Rarity

absent
extremely rare
very rare
rare
rather rare
rather common
common
very common
extremely common
Loading data...
Occurrence data
Predictive map

Nere Sorrentino
Spain, Canary Islands, Gran Canaria


P.L. Nimis; Owner: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste
Herbarium: TSB (5166)
2001/11/28


P.L. Nimis; Owner: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste
Herbarium: TSB (5166)
2001/11/28


Curtis Randall Björk – CC BY-SA 4.0
British Columbia, Clearwater Valley Date: 2012-04-02 On basalt boulder in conifer-deciduous forest


Nere Sorrentino
Spain, Canary Islands, Gran Canaria


Nere Sorrentino
Spain, Canary Islands, Gran Canaria


Leif Stridvall - Source: http://www.stridvall.se/la/galleries.php


Nere Sorrentino
Spain, Canary Islands, Gran Canaria


Pier Luigi Nimis CC BY-SA 4.0
TSB 42546


Pier Luigi Nimis CC BY-SA 4.0
TSB 42546


Pier Luigi Nimis CC BY-SA 4.0
TSB 42546


Pier Luigi Nimis CC BY-SA 4.0
TSB 42546


Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_P/Text_P_3/Polychidium_muscicola.htm
France, 16/10/2012 - sur Grimmia - Quenza - Corse


Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_P/Text_P_3/Polychidium_muscicola.htm
France, 28/12/2014 - session FMBDS - Mont Cenis - Savoie


Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_P/Text_P_3/Polychidium_muscicola.htm
France, 4/11/2013 - Novacelles - sur Peltigera elisabethae établi sur mousse - Puy-de-Dôme


Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_P/Text_P_3/Polychidium_muscicola.htm
France, 4/11/2013 - Novacelles - sur Peltigera elisabethae établi sur mousse - Puy-de-Dôme


Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_P/Text_P_3/Polychidium_muscicola.htm
France, 4/11/2013 - Novacelles - sur Peltigera elisabethae établi sur mousse - Puy-de-Dôme


Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_P/Text_P_3/Polychidium_muscicola.htm
France, 4/11/2013 - Novacelles - sur Peltigera elisabethae établi sur mousse - Puy-de-Dôme


Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_P/Text_P_3/Polychidium_muscicola.htm
France, 4/11/2013 - Novacelles - sur Peltigera elisabethae établi sur mousse - Puy-de-Dôme


Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_P/Text_P_3/Polychidium_muscicola.htm
France, 4/11/2013 - Novacelles - sur Peltigera elisabethae établi sur mousse - Puy-de-Dôme


Wolfgang von Brackel - CC BY-4.0
Greenland, Suuluaqqap


Wolfgang von Brackel - CC BY-4.0
Greenland, Suuluaqqap


Zahlbruckner A. 1926. Lichenes (Flechten). In: Engler A. (ed.): Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien. 2nd ed., vol 8, W. Engelmann, Leipzig, 270 pp.