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(Map updated: 11 August 2009)

This foliose lichen is familiar on trees in parks, gardens, waysides and woodlands right across Ireland and will be among the first to be encountered by the beginner. It forms grey, circular patches with neat, rounded lobes that are light brown (never black) below. The lobes have spots of white powdery soredia (a mixture of fungal hyphae and algae) sprinkled throughout which turn carmine-red with a dab of fresh bleach. There are several lookalike species.

Key characteristics

• Thallus grey (never greenish or brownish when dry)
• Soredia, floury (not gritty), spotted across the surface of the thallus, but never spreading to become dominant along the margins of the lobes.

Original text submitted by Vince J. Giavarini