Foliose Lichen: What, Types, Structure, Characteristics, Classification, Diagram, Several Facts

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In this article we will discuss about “foliose lichen” with their structure, characteristics, types with example and several facts in detail.

The word “foliose lichen” means leaf-like, arising from the combination of photosynthetic partner algae and cyanobacteria or fungi.

Now take a look at different examples of foliose lichen in detail.                               

Foliose Lichen Classification with types

There are different type of lichens are present on earth. All lichens have relationship among algae and fungi or cyanobacteria. The lichens are divided in to several categories in which,based on the thallus structure,the lichens are classified in to, Leprose lichen,Crustose lichen, Foliose lichen and Fruticose lichen. Foliose lichens are belong to different family,genus, and among different species.

Here some examples of different foliose lichen in detail.

Flavoparmelia caperata

These foliose lichen belong to the Parmeliaceae family.It is medium to large, generally grow on limbs and the thallus is mainly covered with mealy particles.This lichen also known as a common greenshield lichen belong to the Parmeliaceae family. the lobes of thallus have a wrinkled appearance with smooth in texture.

Parmelia saxatilis

These foliose lichen is belongs to Parmeliaceae family. According to their morphology of thallus,it divided in to numers of smaller genera.The upper surface of this lichen convert in to bluish gray to light brown during direct sunlight reflect on them.They also have some other color like brown,grey or yellow with having some rootlets.

Xanthoria parietina

These foliose lichen belong to the Teloschistaceae family.It has various common name include shore lichen,yellow scale, orange lichen.It is very leafy and can be found near the walls,rocks or shore.Most of the upper surface has shade of greenish-yellow,orange while lower surface has rhizines with a cortex ,white in color.

800px Xanthoria parietina gelbflechte
foliose lichen example from wikipedia

Deratocarpon fluviatile

These foliose lichen is elong to the Verrucariaceae family and it is mainly present in freshwater stream,graw on rocks. it has a flask shaped with perithecia like fruting body structure.The structure is mostly ambeded in nonfruting body termed thallus.

Plastimatia glauca

These medium to large foliose lichen is belong to the Parmeliaceae family.has generally upcurved ,few to numerous lobes with having a margin.The upper surface of this lichen have whitish green,pale blue greenish gray or pure white in color. The most species of this lichen mostly found in the branches of conifer trees or forest on the trunk.

Candelaria concolor

These foliose lichen belong to the Candelariaceae family.It has very small foliose with loosely imbricate and narrow lobes.The upper surface has mostly smooth, yellow green in shade or lemon yellow to mustard yellow in color.The medulla region is very thin and white with simple rhizines at lower surface.

Lobaria pulmonaria

These foliose lichen belong to the Lobariaceae family.It is a most typical member of foliose lobarion communities.These lichen also known as “Tree lungwort” It produce some fronds having a small granular structure.It is present in very broad leaves tree,on old walls or low srub.The upper surface of this lichen change color according to environment, during hot and dry condition it look like pale green to brown while in wet condition,it change in to bright green.

800px Lobaria pulmonaria 010108c
foliose lichen example fromWikipedia

Umbilicaria mammulata

These foliose lichen belong to the Umbillicariaceae family.it is found at rock walls or boulder in forest or around lakes.It can also known as a smooth rock tripe.The lower surface is pitch black and upper surface of this lichen is a smooth,greyish or reddish brown in color. It has around 5 to 15 cm in diameter thallus.

Physcia caesia

These foliose lichen belong to the Physciaceae family.The most common name of this lichen is powder-back lichen or blue-gray rosette lichen. It has a small rosette around 2 to 3 cm,with some whitish spotted on their surface.It has narrower with broader lobes with thallus having gray to dark gray in color.

Physcia caesia Salle Norfolk UK crop
foliose lichen example from Wikipedia

Parmotrema stuppeum

These foliose lichen belong to the Parmeliaceae family.It contains elongate,separate and subirregular lobes.The thallus is around 2 to 20cm in length.The lower surface of this lichen generally black with brown contain some rihizines with upper surace having grayish smooth and dull in color.

Peltigera leucophlebia

These foliose lichen belong to the Peltigeraceae family. The most common name of this lichen is ruffled freckled pelt. The thallus of this lichen having white lower surface and brown or greyish on upper part with also contain visible bright green algae.

Xanthoparmelia conspersa

These foliose lichen belong to the Parmeliaceae family.The thallus of this lichen loosely or strongly attached and having black or oale to dark brown lower surface and the upper surface has isidia. it most commonly found in siliceous rocks or some sunny habitats and widely distributed in temperate zones.

Degelia plumbea

These foliose lichen belong to the Pannariaceae family. The most common name of this lichen is Blue felt lichen,mostly found in coastal rocks or also grow on trees.It having a blue-black or brown foliose lichen.

800px Degelia plumbea Jymm
foliose lichen example from Wikipedia

Dictyonema glabratum

These foliose lichen belong to the Hygrophoraceae family. They mostly found on rocks,soil and also it can grow on leaves of trees.Dictyonema is one kind of diverse group of lichen which has different kind of other species like Dictyonema aeruginosulum,Dictyonema album,Dictyonema coppinsii and many more.

Physconia enteroxantha

These foliose lichen belong to the Physciaceae family.The thallus of this lichen is foliose and up to 6cm in diameter.It has peripheral lobes in lower surface and upper surface is mostly gray brown to dark brown in color.The meddula of this lichen has white to off white or pale yellowish to yellow in part.

Here, some other foliose lichen examples are include Erioderma leylandii,Collema nigrescens,Leptogium cyanescens,Peltigera horizontalis,Sticta weigeliii,Parmelia sulcata,Peltigera cannina and many more.

Foliose lichen Identification

It has a symbiotic relationship between fungi and algae. The body of this foliose lichen is created by the fungus which encircles the algae cells and fungus tissue covered around them. These lichens usually form more or less circular forms of colonies or gray to green in color. It is one of the morphological classes of lichens that grow on rocks in the shady woods or on trunks of trees and via hyphae, it can attach to the surface in the form of a lower root-like structure in the lower cortex which refers to as rhizines.

Foliose lichen phylum

The foliose lichen belongs to the phylum Ascomycota which has some asci-spore producing hyphae also known as “Cup fungi” or “Sac fungi” that is in the form of little button shaped cup, also termed apothecium.

Foliose lichen structure

The foliose lichen is leafy like lettuce, full of bumps and ridges, and very flat. It has many vegetative reproductive structures known as Isidia. It also has two clearly defined lower and upper sides as well as fringed lobes. The thallus is the main body part of this lichen which is made up of, Medulla that is allows for gas exchange and Cortex is thick layers of hyphae called the cortex, that contain photosynthetic cells and another is Hyphae.

If we look at the cross-section of this lichen, it has some layers in which it contains some green algae, Loosely packed hyphae, rhizines-One kind of anchoring hyphae and the thick layers of hyphae called the cortex. It contains leafy lobes which are present in different sizes and shapes like ruffled, shrubby, rock-like with delicate lobes.

Foliose lichen diagram

Foliose lichen habitat

Most of the foliose lichens are found in arctic regions and are usually seen on high mountains. During irrespective climate conditions, it can survive in hostile places and extreme climatic conditions.Due to the symbiotic relationship between algae and fungi, the fungus gets some organic nutrients from algae via photosynthesis and algae get some water, gases, and nutrients from the fungus. This partnership helps them to thrive in any kind of habitat or other worst climatic conditions that can range from warm valleys, dry mountains to wet and cold conditions

Crustose lichen v/s foliose lichen

Both of these lichens have a major difference in which crustose lichen has crust-like growth that strongly adheres to the different substrates like tree bark, rock, and spoil. It has an apothecial and small fruiting body containing some ascospores and asci.While the foliose lichen has a leaf-like, irregular, and flat thallus-like structure and is mostly found on growing trees known as a terricolous.it has a rhizoid an outgrowth on the lower surface of the thallus termed rhizines

The basic structure of this crustose lichen consists of a medulla, algal layer, and cortex layer which are usually pigmented and differentiated. The growth of crustose lichens depends on different kinds of factors like temperature, precipitation, moisture level, etc, while foliose lichens contain leafy lobes which are present in different sizes and shapes like ruffled, shrubby, rock-like with delicate lobes it has some layers like layers of green algae, Loosely packed hyphae, rhizines-One kind of anchoring hyphae and the thick layers of hyphae called the cortex.

Foliose greenshield lichen

The species of this lichen belong to the family Parmeliaceae.The habitat of this lichen is in a populated area, along with fence posts, on rock or bark of broadleaved trees.It is a medium to large foliose lichen having rounded and irregular lobes. The most common species of this lichen is Flavoparmelia Caperata, which grows on rock or the bark of trees. It can produce apothecia, one spore-producing structure. The thallus of this lichen is 5 to 20cm in diameter with extensive patches. The rhizines of this lichen are unbranched and black.

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