Recorded from Counties Fermanagh and Londonderry, L. maggiana is an uncommon ‘bark-pimple’ species usually associated with hazel or young stands of oak. In the field you might collect this as an accidental, along with other scraps of bark lichen for later identification under the microscope. This species can be identified by its invisible thallus, red-brown, ellipsoid-shaped discs (perithecia) and spindly one- to three-septate spores (>35µm long).

Key characteristics

• Thallus invisible; possibly a trace of a brown patch or two (trentepohlia algae), discs red-brown, never circular, mainly elongate, sometimes with a fringe
• Spores larger than other species in the genus, long, spindle-like.

Original text submitted by Vince J. Giavarini