ASCOMYCOTA | LECANOROMYCETES > LECANORALES > Parmeliaceae

Genus Usnea, meaning 'rope-like' - or from the Arabic for 'moss'

Common name:            Common Beard Lichen

Synonym:                    -  

Habitat:                         Woodland and wayside trees  

Substrata:                     Bark, occasionally rocks                      

Growth form:                Corticolous, saxicolous  

Thallus:                  Fruiticose                    

Apothecia:                    Lecanorine, but usually infertile 

BLS identity rating:        Graded 1/5 (identification should be straightforward)

Thallus variable, typically growing 2-8cm tall, erect and shrubby at first, but often becoming pendulous with age, possibly hanging to as much as 20cm long depending on location; some individuals though being reduced to a single main stem with a few lateral branches, whilst others may be extremely richly branched and tufted; main branches to 1.5mm dia., cylindrical, not inflated, branching irregular with numerous laterals of unequal length

Surface yellow-green to dark green-grey, often conspicuously blackened near the coarse persistent, transversely minutely cracked, holdfast; branches often densely papillose, especially towards the base, occasionally with white rounded or oval abraded areas; terminal branches and fibrils smooth with scattered small wart-like protuberances and spiny isidia.

Usually infertile, but tiny, round, whitish to light brown apothecia may be found at some branch tips.

Usnea subfloridana is a common and widespread corticolous species that can occur on trunks, branches and twigs at almost every level, except in the canopy where Usnea florida is probably more likely. That said, the only way canopy growing species are going to be found is on small, wind-blown branches and twigs, although obviously you won't know the level from which they've fallen. It's also worth double-checking specimens found lower down on tree trunks.