An almost forgotten species that has been described as a fertile terricolous lichen without pycnidia. Apothecia, however, are rarely formed and it mostly occur as the anamorph with stalked pycnidia similar to e.g. M. misella. The pycnidia grow on a thin grey-green thallus (or the thallus is endosubstratic), are simple or branched at the base, and contain a brown pigment (K–), but often also a blue-green pigment at the top, which can sometimes even dominate the pycnidia. Especially for specimens on wood with an endoxylic thallus, differentiation from similar representatives of the genus is often very difficult.
Micarea osloensis grows mostly at the bases of conifers and beeches, but also on decaying wood or, more rarely, on dead bryophytes. It prefers forests of middle and higher elevations, both managed and old-growth character. It belongs to the toxitolerant lichens and can be found even in areas significantly affected by acidification of substrates. The species can be particularly abundant in coniferous forests, but its occurrence at the base of trunks makes it easy to miss. So far, it is only known from a few European countries (Kantelinen et al. 2024). In the Czech Republic, it has so far been reported under the name M. botryoides. However, this lichen is primarily saxicolous, usually forms a greenish thallus and has branched pycnidia.
Literature: Kantelinen A., Svensson M., Malíček J., Vondrák J., Thor G., Palice Z., Svoboda S. & Myllys L. (2024): A phylogenetic study of Micarea melaeniza and similar-looking species (Pilocarpaceae) unveils hidden diversity and clarifies species boundaries and reproduction modes. – MycoKeys 106: 327–353.
taxonomic classification:Ascomycota → Lecanoromycetes → Lecanorales → Pilocarpaceae → Micarea
All records: 163, confirmed 22. One click on a selected square displays particular record(s), including their source(s).