Usnea flavocardia Räsänen
Rev. Univ. Santiago, 21: 139, 1936.
Synonyms:
Distribution: C - Sar (Nascimbene & al. 2021).
Description: Thallus fruticose-filamentous, greenish, sometimes with minute purple-red spots, shrubby, 3-4(-6) cm long, branching mainly anisotomic-dichotomously with divergent branches. Main branches cylindrical or irregular, 0.5-1.15 mm thick, greenish to yellowish brown at base, often with annular fissures bordered by white rings of medullary tissue. Lateral branches more or less constricted at attachment point. Papillae and tubercles rare to absent; fibrils more or less numerous, spinulose, 1-2 mm long, irregularly distributed. Soralia numerous, irregular, plane or slightly excavate, often confluent and covering the whole apex of lateral branches, occupying at least half the diameter of the branch, originating from cortex, without isidiomorphs or with a few very short (<0.1 mm) isidiomorphs on young soralia only. Cortex thin (4-8% of total thickness), shiny in longitudinal section; medulla usually two-layered: compact close to cortex and lax around the axis, thick (23-35%), white below the cortex, usually pale yellow close to axis; central axis pale to intensively yellow, rather thin (19-37%). Apothecia not observed in Italian material. Photobiont chlorococcoid. Spot tests: cortex K-, C-, KC-, P-; medulla K-, P- (fatty acids only), or K+ dull yellow turning reddish orange, P+ deep orange (norstictic acid) or K+ slowly yellowish to dull yellow, P+ deep yellow (psoromic acid). Chemistry: cortex with usnic acid; medulla with: chemotype 1) psoromic acid (major, mainly in the soralia) and conpsoromic and salazinic acids (accessory); chemotype 2) norstictic acid and substances of the stictic acid complex; chemotype 3) fatty acids only. The first chemotype is by far the most frequent. Note: a Mediterranean-Atlantic species (see Clerc 1984, as U. wirthii) growing on deciduous trees (e.g. Fagus, Quercus, Salix and Sorbus). In Europe it is known from France, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain (Randlane & al. 2009), Switzerland (Clerc & Kissling 2019) and Germany (Otte 2011). The Italian specimen, from Sardinia, was collected in a montane, old-growth, unmanaged forest hosting several suboceanic and oceanic lichens such as Lobaria pulmonaria, Ricasolia amplissima, and R. virens.
Growth form: Fruticose filamentous
Substrata: bark
Photobiont: green algae other than Trentepohlia
Reproductive strategy: mainly asexual, by soredia, or soredia-like structures (e.g. blastidia)
Most common in areas with a humid-warm climate (e.g. most of Tyrrenian Italy)
Commonnes-rarity: (info)
Alpine belt: absent
Subalpine belt: absent
Oromediterranean belt: absent
Montane belt: extremely rare
Submediterranean belt: absent
Padanian area: absent
Humid submediterranean belt: absent
Humid mediterranean belt: absent
Dry mediterranean belt: absent
Predictive model
Herbarium samples
Tiiu Tõrra; Owner: Tiiu Tõrra - Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Estonia
Tiiu Tõrra; Owner: Tiiu Tõrra - Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Estonia
Tiiu Tõrra; Owner: Tiiu Tõrra - Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Estonia
Tiiu Tõrra; Owner: Tiiu Tõrra - Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Estonia
Tiiu Tõrra; Owner: Tiiu Tõrra - Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Estonia
Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_U/Usnea_flavocardia.htm
France, session AFL 2015 - Saint-Sozy - Lot
Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_U/Usnea_flavocardia.htm
France, session AFL 2015 - Saint-Sozy - Lot
Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_U/Usnea_flavocardia.htm
France, session AFL 2015 - Saint-Sozy - Lot
Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_U/Usnea_flavocardia.htm
France, session AFL 2015 - Saint-Sozy - Lot
Growth form: Fruticose filamentous
Substrata: bark
Photobiont: green algae other than Trentepohlia
Reproductive strategy: mainly asexual, by soredia, or soredia-like structures (e.g. blastidia)
Most common in areas with a humid-warm climate (e.g. most of Tyrrenian Italy)
Commonnes-rarity: (info)
Alpine belt: absent
Subalpine belt: absent
Oromediterranean belt: absent
Montane belt: extremely rare
Submediterranean belt: absent
Padanian area: absent
Humid submediterranean belt: absent
Humid mediterranean belt: absent
Dry mediterranean belt: absent
Predictive model
| Herbarium samples |
Index Fungorum
GBIF
Tiiu Tõrra; Owner: Tiiu Tõrra - Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Estonia
Tiiu Tõrra; Owner: Tiiu Tõrra - Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Estonia
Tiiu Tõrra; Owner: Tiiu Tõrra - Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Estonia
Tiiu Tõrra; Owner: Tiiu Tõrra - Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Estonia
Tiiu Tõrra; Owner: Tiiu Tõrra - Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Estonia
Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_U/Usnea_flavocardia.htm
France, session AFL 2015 - Saint-Sozy - Lot
Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_U/Usnea_flavocardia.htm
France, session AFL 2015 - Saint-Sozy - Lot
Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_U/Usnea_flavocardia.htm
France, session AFL 2015 - Saint-Sozy - Lot
