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Fungus (pl.
fungi) An enormous class of lower plants characterized by lack of
chlorophyll; includes mushrooms, toadstools, rusts, and
smuts. |
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Genus (pl.
genera) A group of closely related species having a common line of
descent. |
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Habitat The
milieu in which a lichen occurs. Common habitats are rock (the
lichen is saxicolous), bark (the lichen is corticolous), wood (the
lichen is lignicolous), mosses (the lichen is muscicolous), and
soil (the lichen is terricolous). |
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Hypha (pl.
hyphae) White, threadlike chains of fungal cells forming a cottony
mass. |
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Isidium
(pl. isidia) A special growth on a lichen thallus, usually
spherical or cylindrical, which contains a bit of medulla
surrounded by cortex and which is brittle when dry and may break
off and propagate another lichen thallus. |
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Lobe A
marginal portion of a thallus, normally rounded, scalelike or
leaflike. |
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Margin,
thalline The rim of an apothecium, if it is the same color and
texture as the thallus (also sometimes called a lecanorine
margin). |
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Margin,
proper The rim of an apothecium, if it is the same color and
texture as the disk (also called a proper exciple). An apothecium
may have both a thalline and a proper margin. |
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Medulla
(pl. medullae) An undifferentiated, cottony mass of fungal hyphae
forming the internal portion of a lichen thallus. |
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Papilla
(pl. papillae) Minute discrete bumps on the thallus
surface. |
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Perithecium
(pl. perithecia) A spherical ascocarp completely or partially
sunken in the thallus. |
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Podetium
(pl. podetia) The erect branches of Cladonia
thalli. |
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Pruina
(adjective, pruinose) A gray or white, waxy, or powdery covering of
parts or all of a thallus; often this consists of crystals of
calcium oxalate precipitated by the lichen following absorption of
calcium from the substrate. |
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Pseudocyphella (pl. pseudocyphellae) A break in the thallus
which exposes the medulla; this may be extremely small, a mere
point, or may cover a fairly large area. |
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