Lichenized Fungi

Lichens are composite organisms composed of fungal species in a symbiotic relationship with algae and/or cyanobacteria. Although lichens are classified and named based on the fungal component, they are here presented separately from fungi for convenience of access.


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Scientific names beginning with B:
15 genera
64 species, 3 subspecies and varieties
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Bacidia rubella
Description: Thallus greenish-grey to dark green, fading to pale brown with age, consisting of rounded granules. Apothecia yellow-brown or pale to dark pinkish-brown, convex, often pruinose.
Distribution: Washington; Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, New York, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina
Habitat: Mature forest.
Substrate: On hardwood bark.
Baeomyces rufus
Description: Thallus pale grey-green, continuous to areolate, verrucose or squamulose; Podetia 1-2 mm with dull brown flat or hemispherical apothecia less than 2 mm in diameter.
Distribution: Washington; Alaska, New York, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts; disjunct in Colorado; British Columbia, Yukon and Northwest Territories, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia.
Habitat: Shade.
Substrate: Rock and mineral soils, less commonly on root bark or wood.
Bellemerea alpina
Description: Thallus creamy white to pale brown, areolate, with black prothallus; Apothecia dark brown to black, embedded in areoles, 0.4-0.8 mm in diameter.
Distribution: Washington; Alaska, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah; British Columbia, Yukon and Northwest Territories.
Habitat: Arctic/alpine.
Biatora vernalis
Description: Thallus pale green to dark greenish-grey; Apothecia pale yellowish-brown to red-brown, usu. strongly convex, 0.4-0.8 mm in diameter; Exciple colorless or pale yellow.
Distribution: West of Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska, Idaho, extreme western Montana, northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, eastern New York, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire; British Columbia, Yukon and Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, Labrador.
Habitat: Usually in shaded forest.
Substrate: On moss or bark, rarely directly on bark.
Brigantiaea leucoxantha
Description: Thallus pale greenish-grey, smooth to verruculose. Apothecia 0.5-1.4 mm in diameter, orange to olive green with yellow or orange pruina, margins prominent, bright orange.
Distribution: San Juan Islands in Washington; Gulf States, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia; coastal British Columbia.
Habitat: Subtropical forest.
Substrate: On bark.
Brigantiaea praetermissa
Origin: Native
Brodoa oroarctica
Description: Lobes with dark steel-grey to dark brown upper surface, sometimes paler at tips, exhibiting white maculae; Lower surface dark grey to black, often with white pruina, rhizines absent.
Distribution: Washington; Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, northern Arizona and New Mexico; British Columbia, Yukon and Northwest Territories, Nunavut.
Habitat: Alpine, arctic tundra.
Substrate: On rock or soil.
Bryocaulon divergens
Description: Thallus shiny, red-brown, bushy or sprawling, branches 0.3 to 0.5 mm in diameter, round in cross-section.
Distribution: Washington; Alaska; British Columbia, northern Canada.
Habitat: Tundra.
Substrate: On soil and vegetation.
Bryoplaca jungermanniae
Origin: Native
Bryoria capillaris
Description: Thallus generally pale but variable, grey to smoky brown; Branches 0.1-0.3 mm in diameter, up to 30 cm in length, brittle.
Distribution: Washington; Alaska, Oregon, California, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire; British Columbia, western Alberta, Yukon and Northwest Territories, Ontario, Quebec.
Habitat: Shaded, humid forest.
Substrate: On trees.
Bryoria fremontii
Description: Thallus dark reddish-brown to yellowish-brown, with thick, twisted main branches and side branches. Thallus commonly 10-30 cm long, main branches 0.4-1.5 mm thick. Apothecia yellow disks, occasionally present.
Distribution: Washington; Oregon, California, Idaho, western Montana, Wyoming extending into Colorado, disjunct in S. Dakota; southern tip of Yukon Territory, British Columbia, lower Alberta.
Habitat: Open, dry stands.
Substrate: On conifers.
Bryoria fuscescens
Description: Thallus pale to dark brown or olive, not reddish, base lighter in color; Main branches terete or flattened at axils, 0.3-0.4 mm thick, to 15 cm in length; Soralia white, tuberculate or fissural.
Distribution: Washington; Alaska to Bay Area, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire; Canada.
Habitat: Boreal and western forest.
Substrate: On spruce, pine and Douglas-fir.
Bryoria glabra
Description: Thallus shiny, greenish to olive-brown, pendent, to 15 cm in length; Branches to 0.4 mm thick, uniform, dichotomously branched; Oval fissural soralia white and usu. abundant.
Distribution: Washington; Alaska to northern California; British Columbia.
Habitat: In open areas.
Substrate: On conifers of all kinds.
Bryoria lanestris
Description: Thallus tangled in clumps to 10 cm in length; Branches dark and slender, uneven in diameter, to 0.25 mm thick, brittle; Abundantly sorediate, with white soredia flecked with black.
Distribution: Washington; Alaska, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico; Canada.
Habitat: In open areas.
Substrate: On conifers of all kinds.
Bryoria nadvornikiana
Description: Thallus grey to greyish-brown, rarely darker in full exposure, shrubby to sub-pendent to 9 cm in length; Dichotomously branched, with abundant short, pointed side branches; Main branches to 0.3 mm in diameter. Soralia common, with white or greenish-white soredia.
Distribution: Washington; Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, disjunct along Tennessee/North Carolina border; Ontario, Quebec, disjuncts in Northwest Territories and extreme southern Alberta.
Habitat: Open to deeply shaded boreal forest.
Substrate: On conifers and birch.
Bryoria pseudofuscescens
Description: Thallus pale grey-brown to black, pendent to 10 cm in length; Branches uneven and twisted, to 0.35 mm in diameter; Soredia absent, pseudocyphellae white and usu. abundant.
Distribution: Washington; Alaska to Bay Area; British Columbia, Yukon Territory.
Habitat: Montane to subalpine forest.
Substrate: On conifers, esp. Whitebark Pine and Subalpine Fir.
Bryoria tortuosa
Description: Thallus yellow-brown, occasionally greenish-yellow, pendent to 30 cm in length; Main branches to 1 mm in diameter, twisted and pitted, side branches perpendicular; Pseudocyphellae usu. abundant, typically spiralling around branches; Apothecia rare, yellow, pruinose.
Distribution: Washington; Oregon, California, Idaho; British Columbia.
Habitat: Open stands.
Substrate: On oak and pine.
Bryoria trichodes
Description: Thallus pale to dark brown, pendent to 15 cm. in length; Branches to 0.4 mm in diameter; Apothecia abundant esp. in ssp. trichoides, pale reddish-brown.
Distribution: Washington; Alaska, Oregon, northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, New York, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, North and South Carolina; British Columbia, Yukon Territory, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, Labrador.
Habitat: Open bogs and lake shores.
Substrate: On conifers and birch.
Buellia spuria
Description: Thallus grey to yellowish, areolate, prothallus black; Apothecia immersed at first, becoming slightly raised, to 0.7 mm in diameter, exciple dark brown.
Distribution: East of Cascades crest in Washington; southern US, Eastern Seaboard, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri.
Substrate: On siliceous rock.