Powdery Sunburst Lichen
(Xanthomendoza ulophyllodes)
Conservation • Description • Ecology • Distribution • Taxonomy
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Description |
Powdery Sunburst Lichen is a common and widespread lichen. It occurs in Europe, western Asia, and North America. It occurs throughout the United States, but it is mostly absent from the Great Plains and the Great Basin. It is very common in Minnesota. Powdery Sunburst Lichen grows on bark and occasionally on rock and on concrete. It is commonly found on cemetery headstones. The vegetative body (thallus) is leaf-like (foliose) and divided into small branches (lobes). It forms rosettes up to 1⅜″ (3.5 cm) wide, sometimes larger. The rosettes sometimes coalesce to cover much larger areas. It grows loosely attached to the substrate. The lobes are flat to convex, flat (truncate) to round at the tip, up to 3 ⁄16″ (5 mm) long, sometimes longer, and 1 ⁄64″ to 1 ⁄16″ (0.3 to 1.5 mm) wide. They are semi-erect when fresh, becoming flattened with just the tips ascending in the older parts. The upper surface is smooth to shiny and deep orange when exposed to the sun, orange to yellowish orange in partially shaded areas, and pale yellow or greenish yellow in deep shade. There are tiny, globular chambers (pycnidia) embedded in the thallus with an opening through which fungal spores are released. The pycnidia are darker than the upper surface. The lower surface of the thallus is white and smooth to somewhat wrinkled. There are abundant, white to yellow, root-like structures (rhizines) attaching the lower surface to the substrate. The upper and lower surfaces of the lichen are formed of tightly packed, interwoven, fungal threads (hyphae) going in all directions (paraplectenchymatous). Disk-like, spore-producing structures (apothecia) are rare, but when present they may be abundant. They are orange, stalked, up to ⅛″ (3 mm) in diameter, and shaped like a plate. |
Similar Species |
Ecology |
Substrate |
Bark, rock, cement |
Growth Form |
Foliose |
Habitat |
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Hosts |
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Distribution |
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Sources |
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| 2/1/2025 | ||
Occurrence |
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Very common |
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Taxonomy |
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Kingdom |
Fungi (fungi) |
Subkingdom |
Dikarya |
Phylum |
Ascomycota (sac fungi) |
Subphylum |
Pezizomycotina (sac fungi amd lichens) |
Class |
Lecanoromycetes (common lichens) |
Subclass |
Lecanoromycetidae (shield lichens, sunburst lichens, rosette lichens, and allies) |
Order |
Teloschistales (sunburst lichens and allies) |
Suborder |
Teloschistineae |
Family |
Teloschistaceae (sunburst lichens, firedots, and allies) |
Subfamily |
Xanthorioideae |
Genus |
Xanthomendoza |
Mycobiont |
Xanthomendoza ulophyllodes |
Photobiont |
green algae other than Trentepohlia |
This species was originally described in 1931 as Xanthoria ulophyllodes. In 2002 it was moved to the genus Xanthomendoza. The move has not been universally accepted. Both names are widely used today. MycoBank, LichenPortal, Mushroom Observer, NatureServe, and iNaturalist use the name Xanthomendoza ulophyllodes. Index Fungorum, MycoPortal, GBIF, NCBI, Catalog of Life, and Ways of Enlichenment use the name Xanthoria ulophyllodes. |
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Subordinate Taxa |
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Powdery Sunburst Lichen (Xanthomendoza ulophyllodes var. subsorediosa) Powdery Sunburst Lichen (Xanthomendoza ulophyllodes var. ulophyllodes) |
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Synonyms |
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Oxneria coppinsii Oxneria ulophyllodes Xanthoria soechtingii Xanthoria ulophyllodes |
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Common Names |
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Powdery Sunburst Lichen |
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Glossary
Apothecium
An open, disk-shaped or cup-shaped, reproductive structure, with spore sacs on the upper surface, that produces spores for the fungal partner of a lichen. Plural: apothecia.
Foliose
Leaf-like; referring to lichens with thin, flat, leaf-like growths divided into lobes which are free from the substrate.
Hypha
A thread-like cell of a fungus that is the main mode of vegetative growth: the basic structural unit of a multicellular fungus. Plural: hyphae. Collectively, the hyphae of a fungus is the mycelium.
Pycnidium
A small, spherical, flask-shaped, or inversely pear-shaped, asexual reproductive structure produced by fungi in which conidia develop. Plural: pycnidia.
Rhizine
A root-like structure of a lichen that attaches the lower layer to the substrate.
Rosette
A radiating group or cluster of leaves usually on or close to the ground.
Thallus
In lichens: The vegetative body of a lichen composed of both the alga and the fungus. In liverworts: a flat, relatively undifferentiated plant body. Plural: thalli.
Truncate
Terminating abruptly as if cut off, as with a leaf base.
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Luciearl |
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lichen on rock |
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Location: Cass County lichen on rock |
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Created: 2/1/2025 Last Updated: © MinnesotaSeasons.com. All rights reserved. |