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Lepraria incana (L.) Ach. |
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Nomenclatural data
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Meth. Lich.: 4 (1803); type: United Kingdom, drawing in Dillenius, Hist. Musc.: tab. I fig. 3 (1742) (holotypus); typotypus: herb Hist. Musc.:tab. I no 3 (OXF). Byssus incana L., Sp. Pl. 2: 1169 (1753).
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Morphology
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Thallus crustose, leprose, with powdery to rarely almost cottony appearance; dull greenish grey, sometimes whitish grey, usually with bluish tinge; usually thick, firmly attached to the substrate; shape irregular, up to 1 dm or more in diam.; margin diffuse, lobes absent; cortex absent; medulla sometimes present, poorly or rarely relatively well developed; hypothallus scarce, lower surface absent; prothallus absent; areoles sometimes present in well developed thalli; squamules absent; thallus surfaces without soredia absent, soredia abundant, mostly fine, up to 50 µm in diam., mostly loosely packed; wall usually not complete; projecting hyphae sometimes present, short; consoredia sometimes present, up to 110 µm; isidia-like structures absent. Photobiont Chlorophyta, coccoid, up to 18 µm in diam.
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Chemistry
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Commonly (1) divaricatic acid, nordivaricatic acid ± (trace), zeorin (rarely absent), atranorin ± (major to trace); K– or + faint yellow, C–, KC–, Pd–. Rarely (2) anthraquinones in addition to the aforementioned substances: parietin, fallacinal, parietinic acid, citreorosein; K+ purple-red, C–, KC+ purple-red, Pd+ orange. Very rare accessories include gyrophoric acid, lecanoric acid, thamnolic acid and an unknown terpenoid (Baruffo et al. 2006, Laundon 1992, Leuckert et al. 1995, Makarova et al. 2006).
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Remarks
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L. incana can be morphologically quite variable, sometimes forming relatively loose cottony cushions and sometimes consisting of sparse or denser separate soredia only. L. crassissima and L. nigrocincta also produce divaricatic acid, see the discussion under L. crassissima. L. caesiella, L. elobata are often morphologically similar but these species lack divaricatic acid.
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Ecology and distribution
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Substrate and ecology: bark, acidic rock, sometimes mosses, wood, soil; more or less shaded places. Distribution: worldwide, except Arctic and Antarctic.
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