| Holotype: Lepraria santamonicae K. Knudsen & Elix |
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Description: Thallus saxicolous or terricolous,
leprose, diffuse, pale turquoise to dull green or bluegreen, contiguous to dispersed in clumps, ca. 100–300
lm (–1 mm) thick; margin diffuse, without lobes orrim; thallus of granules, 30–50 lm diam., loose to
partially fused in distinct columns or curds, without projecting hyphae; granules with a colorless cortex of
1–2 layers of paraplectenchymatous hyphae, globose to ellipsoid, 2–3(–7) lm diam., surrounding an algal
core; photobiont chlorococcoid green algae, cells spherical, usually 7–11 lm in diameter; only granules
in uppermost exposed surface of the thallus darkening with pigment or mineral stains; occasional hyaline
leptodermatous rhizoids arising from the cortex of the granules, rhizoids 20–30 lm wide, lacing through
granules and upper mineral particles of soil or rock; thalli on loose soil surface over rock, forming a
chasmolithic pseudo-medullary layer of gelatinized rhizines, mixed with necral matter, silicate crystals,
bacteria, cyanobacteria, and occasionally associated fungi, visible in dissecting microscope as a white area
below granules. Ascomata and conidiomata absent. Secondary metabolites: argopsin, norargopsin. |
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Type: USA: California: Los Angeles County: Los Angeles, eastern end of the Santa
Monica Mountains, Griffith Park, 34° 09' 07"N, 118° 18' 08"W, 207 m, mesic chaparral mixed with
coastal sage scrub, on shaded west-facing vertical roadcut, on shallow soil and mosses over rock, 27 Nov
2005, Knudsen 4380 et al. (holotype: UCR; isotypes: ASU, BM, CANB, H, HB. LENDEMER, NY). |
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Image: Rolf Muertter. |
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