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(Map updated: 11 August 2009)

This is a characteristic crustose lichen of gritty siliceous rock, and consists of pale greyish to yellowish-green, ‘island areoles’ (like little jigsaw pieces of thallus), upon which arise centrally located circular patches of powdery soralia. When fertile, the species may support greenish discs up to half a millimetre in diameter. In Ireland, it is most frequent in south-east.

Key characteristics

• The evenly scattered areoles bearing pale greenish soralia more or less centrally and unvarying in size, serve to suggest this species
• Both L. polytropa and L. intricata are non-sorediate species.

Original text submitted by Simon Davey