Umbilicaria phaea

Umbilicaria phaea is a brown, umbilicate foliose lichen that grows up to 6 cm (2.4 in) in diameter, sometimes in colonies covering large patches of desert rocks.[1]: 127  [2] One variety that grows in northern California is brilliant red.[1] It is (monophyllous) with a single 1 – 5 cm flattish leaf-like cap on top of an anchoring stem (umbilicate).[2] The leaflike top is smooth with some lobes, roughly circular, thin, and brittle.[2] The lower surface is light gray to light brown.[2] It has up to 2.5 mm black circular to slightly polygonal spots that are the fruiting bodies (apothecia), slightly sunken into the main nonfruiting body part (thallus).[2] It grows on siliceous boulders in very dry climates of western North and South America, where it is usually the most common member of its genus.[2]

Umbilicaria phaea
Umbilicaria phaea is the lichen on the right
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Umbilicariales
Family: Umbilicariaceae
Genus: Umbilicaria
Species:
U. phaea
Binomial name
Umbilicaria phaea
Tuck. (1869)

References
  1. Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-19500-2
  2. Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 2, Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bugartz, F., (eds.) 2001,


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