Green Rock-Posy
Scientific Name:
Rhizoplaca melanophthalma
Type:
Lichen
Habitat:
Exposed rock types of basalt, granite, and schist that occur in pinyon-juniper woodland and up to high-elevation forests
Range:
North and South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Antarctica
Status:
No listed status
This species is
NATIVE
to the Truckee Meadows.
Identification:
Green rock-posy is a greenish-yellow lichen that grows 0.2 to 1 inch across. The thallus, or body made of the fungus portion, can range from small and leafy lobes to deeply lobed to cushion-shaped.
Fast Facts:
Can have one leaf (monophyllous) or many (polyphyllous).
Considered foliose, but can appear crustose-like.
The parasitic firedot lichen (Caloplaca epithalina) has been found to grow on green rock-posy.
Here in the Truckee Meadows, green rock-posy can be found at Hidden Valley Regional Park.
Sources:
Consortium of North American Lichen Herbaria, Rhizoplaca melanophthalma, 2002, https://lichenportal.org/cnalh/taxa/index.php?taxon=54036&clid=1092
Conservation Data Centre, Getting to Know Your Prairie Lichens of Saskatchewan Canada, 2007, http://biodiversity.sk.ca/Docs/lichens3.PDF
Image: Jason Hollinger, https://www.flickr.com/photos/7147684@N03/5037668483/, license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/, cropped from original.
Image: Bob Danley, https://www.flickr.com/photos/wild_attributes/6578598375/in/photostream/, license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/, cropped from original.
Contributor(s):
Tessa Putz (research & content)
Alex Shahbazi (edits & page design)