77
lecanorine. Spores brown, 2-celled. Photobiont: chlorococcoid. Spot-tests: cortex and medulla K+ yellow, C- KC-, P-. -
Rare, mostly restricted to humid high elevation forests above 1000 m, on tree trunks in moist montane areas (Matale
District- Maussakanda Estate and Kabaragala).
Physcia sorediosa
Lynge
Thallus orbicular or irregularly spreading, loosely adnate, 2-5 cm wide. Lobes
0.5-2.0 mm wide, contiguous or imbricate, irregularly branched, usually broader
at the apices, eciliate. Upper surface whitish grey to grey, glossy, rarely
pruinose, more or less distinctly white-maculate. Soralia and/or dactyls
marginal, often best developed in lobe axils, small and delimited, occasionally
enlarged and capitate, rarely confluent and laminal; dactyls becoming pustulate
and ultimately sorediate; soredia farinose, white or grey-white. Lower surface
black, partly dark grey and paler at the lobe tips; rhizines black, simple, 0.4-0.6
mm long. Apothecia usually rare, lecanorine, sessile, constricted at the base,
0.5-2.0 mm wide, the margin concolorous with thallus, crenulate, the disc black,
more or less white-pruinose. Spores brown, 2-celled. Photobiont: chlorococcoid. Spot-tests: cortex and medulla K+
yellow, C- KC-, P-. - Rare, both on rocks and on tree trunks in open areas above 900 m (Matale District).
Porina
spp.
Thallus crustose, corticolous, saxicolous or foliicolous (rarely bryophilous or
terricolous). Perithecia immersed in the thallus or in thallus-dominated verrucae,
or superficial on the thallus. Involucrellum vestigial to well-developed and
almost completely enclosing the exciple, pale to dark orange-brown, red-brown,
brown, green-black, purple-black or jet-black; surface smooth to uneven,
lacking whorls of stiff subapical setae (rarely with a more uniformly distributed
and delicate pilose or ±tomentose covering). Ascospores with 3 or more
transverse septa, or submuriform to muriform. Photobiont: usually
Trentepohlia
.
- This genus of corticolous lichens is represented by many species in Sri Lanka.
Pseudocyphellaria beccarii
(Kremp.) D.J. Galloway
Thallus foliose, 8-15(-25) cm diam., loosely attached centrally, the apices free,
ascending. Lobes linear-elongate, 3-8(-15) mm wide, 1-5(-10) cm long,
contiguous or discrete at margins, imbricate centrally, the apices divergent, the
margins ridged below and often conspicuously pseudocyphellate. Upper surface
dark grey-black or blue-black, red-brown at apices, pale glaucous buff or
greyish when dry, conspicuously punctate-depressed, irregular to undulate or
wrinkled, not foveolate, coriaceous, maculate, without isidia or soredia. Medulla
white. Lower surface pale buff or whitish at margins, red-brown to black
centrally (rarely pale brown throughout); tomentum rather variable, from scarce
to abundant, pale buff to red-brown (rarely blackened). Pseudocyphellae white,
widely scattered to crowded, 0.1-1 mm diam., conical-verrucose, the margins raised. Apothecia mostly marginal or
submarginal, 2-5 mm diam., sessile to subpedicellate, the margin coarsely verrucose-scabrid. Spores pale brown, 3-
septate, ellipsoid. Photobiont cyanobacterial. Spot-tests: Medulla K-, C- or C+ pink, P-. - Common in humid, high
elevation forest areas. Also found in fragmented forest patches at high elevation (above 1200 m), tea estates, and along
streams, growing in upper portions of tree trunks and on moist rocky boulders, mainly in shaded situations (Horton
Plains, Knuckles, Adam's Peak, Kikiliyamana, Ambewela, Pattipola, Seetha Eliya, Hakgala and Kandapola in the
Nuwara Eliya District).
Pseudocyphellaria desfontainii
(Delise) D.J. Galloway
Thallus foliose, rosette-forming to irregularly spreading, 4-9(-11) cm diam.,
closely attached centrally, the margins free. Lobes 2-8(-15) mm wide, (0.5-)l-3(-
6) cm long, discrete, contiguous or subimbricate at margins, imbricate centrally.
Margins incised, crenulate, sparsely to densely isidiate. Upper surface dark
glaucous blue to blue-black, suffused red-brown towards apices when wet,
glaucous grey or pale bluish to red-brown when dry, undulate, pitted to deeply
foveolate. Maculae common, minute, white or yellowish, effigurate to reticulate,
best seen when wet. Isidia often crowded at margins, terete, usually simple,
eroding at apices and appearing pseudosorediate, breaking off and leaving
yellow scars resembling pseudocyphellae. Medulla white, often suffused yellow
