Charis Bratt Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Santa Barbara, CA 93105
When the lichens of Cabrillo National Monument were surveyed in 1983 (Bratt, 1987), 29 species were found. The primary emphasis then was on searching for unusual fruticose species such as Teloschisistes californicus (then thought to be T. villosus) and Trichoramalina crinita which had only been reported before 1910. After 1983, as a result of a transplant study and a project to photograph all of the Point Loma lichens, additional species were found. Currently 51 species are known. Ongoing research will undoubtedly raise the count, as several lichen experts have indicated that specimens sent to them were representative of undescribed species.
Cabrillo National monument covers 144 acres in San Diego County near the tip of Point Loma, which is the northern arm of land bordering San Diego Bay. In the 1850's after the United States acquired California, the need for a lighthouse on Point Loma was evident, and the Old Point Loma Lighthouse was built on top of the ridge at an elevation of 420 feet. Because the old lighthouse was often obscured by dense fog, a new lighthouse was built at the tip of Point Loma near sea level in 1891. The old lighthouse deteriorated and was eventually restored as a national monument to honor Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, an early California explorer. The land around the lighthouse extends as a strip from the bay side of the point to the top of the ridge and down to the ocean. The original access road to the lighthouse on the bay side is now a trail for foot traffic only extending partway down to the shore. On the ocean side there are trails from a parking lot to tidepools. Vegetation is essentially chaparral with a few oaks and many introduced species, especially near the visitor center.
The following annotated list of lichens reflects current knowledge. Nomenclature follows Esslinger and Egan (1995) for the most part. Indications of abundance refer only to Cabrillo National Monument.
Thanks are due Drs. W.A. Weber, B. McCune, J. Knoph, B. Ryan, and J. Sheard, who identified or confirmed specimens included in this report.
Darrell Wright Fairbrook, CA
Five collections of Bryoria capillaris (Ach.) Brodo & D. Hawksw., vouchers for a macrolichen flora of Marin County, California, which had been in their packets from three to five years, were found to have stained the packets pink, in some cases bright pink, with an image of the lichen. All the branches in contact with the paper were bleached to a very pale yellowish brown. The papers were 100% cotton fiber bond which I chose for its supposed chemical inertness. Reddish staining such as this by B. capillaris and Alectoria nigricans (Ach.) Nyl., both of which have the closely related benzyl esters, barbatolic and alectorialic acids (Culberson 1969; Culberson et al. 1977), is mentioned by Brodo and Hawksworth (1977), while Purvis et al. (1992) describe the same for Hypocenomyce xanthococca (Sommerf.) P. James & Gotth. Schneider and Tephromela armeniaca (DC.) Hertel & Rambold, both with alectorialic acid. These C+ red or pink substances are in the cortex, in Bryoria and Alectoria, and will therefore be in direct contact with the packeting material.
To help determine if chlorine in the paper might be giving a "C" reaction with the lichen, I cut two 8-1/2 x 11 in. sheets of packet paper into 8 cm discs and soaked them in 30 cc of distilled water in a clean Petri dish for four hours. I then removed the paper and squeezed the water it contained into the dish. This solution, evaporated in a watch glass over low heat, yielded a small residue which gave a positive Beilstein test(1) for organic halogen, I repeated the test twice, carefully cleaning the copper wire between tests, and obtained the same result. My packet paper evidently contains halogen, most likely chlorine from the manufacturer's bleaching process.
TLC in standard solvent systems C and G (Culberson 1972; Culberson et al. 1981) showed extra spots in the chromatogram of the bleached material compared with that of freshly collected Bryoria capillaris which was never in contact with paper, consistent with Santesson's (1973) report of calcium hypochlorite producing tetra-chloro-substituted orcinol when reacted with unmodified orcinol. Not all discolored thalli showed extra spots, however. I spotted damaged material (B. capillaris: Wright 3877, 3876 and 3728a) from Marin County at origins 3, 4 and 5, plates 16C and 16G (fig. 1). At origins 1 and 2, I spotted material from two areas of the thallus of B. capillaris (Wright 4773) from Lake County, which was never in contact with a chlorine-containing surface (the Marin County population from which Wright 3877, 3876, and 3828a had been obtained, could not be relocated to provide fresh material for this comparison). Origins 1 through 3 show only barbatolic and alectorialic acid, as expected for B. capillaris (alectorialic acid appears only as traces in the G chromatograms of Wright 4773). Origin 4 has an additional low running trace spot which might be interpreted as fumarprotocetraric acid. Although Brodo and Hawksworth (1977) do not report this substance from North American B. capillaris, they did mention its occurrence in some European collections. Because this spot is consistently well-developed in chromatograms of the more damaged thalli (cf. plate 10C), I suspect that it is a damage artefact; however, there is always a possibility that a trace of fumarprotocetraric acid is present. Origin 5 has, besides this spot, two more new spots and appears to represent the most damaged of the thalli chromatographed on this plate.
Plate 10C has extracts of four different areas of a single damaged thallus of Bryoria capillaris (3727). Origins 1 and 4 were from mostly unbleached areas; 2 and 3 were from strongly bleached areas. One of the less bleached parts (origin 4) shows at least six extra spots; the clipping of the bases of the barbatolic spots may represent a seventh spot which was not visible using the ordinary techniques. Apparently areas of the thallus which are not discolored may still be altered chemically.
Next, I checked a series of 39 C+ pink or red collections including Flavopunctelia flaventior (Stirton) Hale (nomenclature follows Esslinger & Egan, 1995), F. soredica (Nyl.) Hale, Melanelia subaurifera (Nyl.) Essl., M. toninii (Oksner) Essl. (syn. M. substygia (Räsänen) Essl.), Punctelia cf. borreri (Sm.) Krog, P. stictica (Duby) Krog, and P. subrudecta (Nyl.) Krog, all with lecanoric acid except P. stictica, which has gyrophoric. 14 (36%) of these had produced at least some discoloration of the packet, usually in the form of small spots where soralia were in contact with the paper, as would be expected in the case of these lichens, in which the C+ substance is in the medulla and soredia, not in the cortex. To be certain that these packet artefacts are the same substances as produced in the KC and C tests, it would be necessary to identify the substances or at least characterize them reasonably well, and there has been almost no work on this since the tests were discovered 130 years ago (Hale 1974).
Probably all lichen collections which would otherwise be in contact with bleached paper should be placed in a protective, non-reactive inner wrap to preserve their chemical integrity and help ensure valid chromatographic results. I am repacketing all of my own collections with an inner wrap consisting of a wax paper bag. Hopefully, this kind of packeting avoids chemical alteration of the lichen thallus which clearly can give TLC artefacts, possibly without altering the color of the thallus. Hawksworth (1974) reported that the Commonwealth Mycological Institute treated all paper-packeted collections in this way.
I thank Isabelle Tavares for confirming the identification of Bryoria capillaris.
1 The Beilstein test consists of placing a clean copper wire carrying a little of the substance to be tested into the flame of a Bunsen burner or equivalent. Green coloration of the flame indicates the presence of organic halogen. See Ahmann and Mathey (1967) for another lichenological application of this test. I found that the test works best with wire (20 gauge, about 1 mm in diameter) which is hammered out flat at its tip to produce a microspatula (flat surface holds more substance, thin metal heats more quickly). The wire should be flamed before flattening to remove any polyvinyl chloride coating, which will itself give a positive Beilstein test, and then scraped clean and bright with a razor blade to remove oxide developed in the flame. Rescrape between uses. I evaporated the test solution to dryness and then took up the residue on the microspatula wetted with 1 to 3 drops of water. Wipe as much material as possible onto the microspatula from the area on the watch glass where the substance is deposited. With a slurry of residue on the microspatula, carefully introduce the tip into the hottest part of the flame. Green coloration of the flame is observed up to 1 cm back from the tip. I practiced this procedure with NaOCl evaporated from household bleach before testing the evaporated material under study. The test with the copper dipped in an aqueous NaOCl solution succeeded with a 0.5% solution but failed with 0.1%.
Janet Doell
Eighty seven years ago, in his "Lichen Flora of the Santa Cruz Peninsula, California", A.W.C.T. Herre had this to say about Usnea longissima: "About the head of Purissima Creek, altitude 1900 ft, the long swaying silver-gray fronds of this lichen form a conspicuous feature of the landscape".
Today, if you venture to the head of Purissima Creek, you will not find any of these
"soft but bright silvery or gray-green"
lichens, to quote Herre once more.
Between the beginning of this century and what is rapidly becoming the end of it,
In 1994 Richard and I discovered a Quercus agrifolia festooned with U. longissima growing in the forest near our cabin in the Santa Cruz Mountains at the southern tip of San Mateo County.
For about a year we enjoyed keeping an eye on what we regarded as our private treasure, but then to our dismay the tree was blown over during a winter storm. It now hangs horizontally over a canyon, unable to reach light, sun, or its usual complement of fog and rain, and the U. longissima is about all gone.
I have found no other record of this lichen in San Mateo County at the local herbaria or in the distribution lists being compiled by Cherie Bratt. These lists report U. longissima in Del Norte, Humboldt, Siskiyou, Mendocino, Lake and Sonoma Counties, but nothing further south. Hale and Cole (1988) report it as "rare from the San Francisco Bay area northward".
The death of the U. longissima we found in the forests of San Mateo County may be representative of what has been happening to this silver-gray lichen since the turn of the century. The southern limit of its distribution has inexorably been moving north since Herre's time.
Isabelle I. Tavares University Herbarium University of California at Berkeley
Among the lichens collected by Harold E. and Susan T. Parks at La Jolla, San Diego County in January, 1929 was a new species, issued as no. 3473 of the Cryptogamae exsiccati editae a Museo Hist. Natur. Vindobonensi- -Lecania cyathiformis Szatala, on dead twigs (Borbasia 3:97. 1941; Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien 52:292. 1942 [1941]). Material of this collection (H.E. Parks 3371, on Rhus, 3.I.1929) was deposited in UC. Although this species was listed in I. Mackenzie Lamb's Index Nominum Lichenum, Inter annos 1932 et 1960 divulgatorum (1963; Ronald Press Co., New York), it was never included in any issue of the Checklist of the Lichens of the Continental United States and Canada (cf. The Bryologist 69:141. 1966 and The Bryologist 98:467. 1995), nor was it included in A Catalog of California Lichens (Wasmann Journal of Botany 36:1. 1979 [1978]).
Although Szatala described the spores of Lecania cyathiformis as 2-celled, the mature spores are actually 4-celled. The large apothecia are conspicuously elevated on subpedicellate bases.
Richard Moe University Herbarium, University of California at Berkeley 1001 Valley Life Sciences Bldg. Berkeley, CA 94720
One of the most unusual lichens in the world, and one about which very little is known, grows in the intertidal zone along the coast of central California. The lichen was first collected at Moss Beach, San Mateo County by M. Wynne and was mentioned in a footnote to a monograph about life histories of brown algae (Wynne 1969). Wynne sent a specimen to T.D.V. Swinscow, a specialist in pyrenocarp lichens, who identified it as a species of the genus Verrucaria. The present report is based on specimens of what is presumably the same species collected from two localities in San Francisco Bay and from McClure's Beach, Marin County. These specimens have immersed perithecia and bitunicate asci each with 8 hyaline, nonseptate spores characteristic of Verrucaria. This species of Verrucaria is unique in that it is the only lichen known to harbor a brown algal photobiont; nearly all other lichens have green algae or cyanobacteria as photobionts. Brown algae (Phaeophyceae) are characterized by chlorophylls a and c and fucoxanthin as photosynthetic pigments, reproductive cells with unequal, laterally inserted flagella, mannitol or laminarin as a photosynthetic product, and alginate in their cell walls. They range in form from microscopic filaments (e.g., some Ectocarpales) to complex thalli many meters long (e.g., some members of Laminariales and Fucales). There are no unicellular brown algae. In several orders there are species that have crustose thalli. In this lichen the photobiont, which was isolated into culture from the Moss Beach collection (Wynne 1969), is such a crust - Petroderma maculiforme (Wollny) Kuckuck. Although Wynne's report has been referenced in handbooks and textbooks (Tschermak-Woess 1988; Friedl and Büdel 1995; Henssen and Jahns 1974), the lichen itself has never been named or described. Indeed, up to the present time it has not been determined whether this brown algal - fungal symbiosis fits the definition of a lichen (e.g., Hawksworth 1988). Several other types of symbioses involving fungi and brown algae are known, but in each a fungus occupies the tissue of an alga without altering the overall algal morphology appreciably. These symbioses are regarded as cases of parasitism if they are facultative or as mycophycobioses if they are obligate (Kohlmeyer and Kohlmeyer 1979). In California, the large fucalean brown algae Halidrys dioica Gardner and Cystoseira osmundacea (Turner) C. Agardh are occasionally parasitized by the ascomycete Haloguignardia irritans (Setchell & Estee) Cribb & Cribb, the ascomata of which induce galls in the algal tissue. In the North Atlantic a well-studied symbiosis is that of the fucalean Ascophyllum nodosum (L.) Le Jolis and the ascomycete Mycosphaerella ascophylli Cotton. Ascophyllum is apparently never found uninfected, but comparisons with related species imply that the fungal tissue, which is a small proportion of the total biomass, does not alter the form of the alga. In the brown algal - fungal symbiosis under consideration, the majority of the biomass is contributed by the mycobiont. The fungus is clearly the exhabitant and the alga the inhabitant as stipulated by Hawksworth's (1988) definition of a lichen. The structure, texture, and habitat of the symbiosis differ from that of the free-living alga. It is appropriate, therefore, to refer to the symbiosis as a lichen. I am proposing the name Verrucaria tavaresiae in honor of Dr. Isabelle Tavares, mycologist and lichenologist of the Herbarium of the University of California at Berkeley, who introduced me to the study of lichens.
Material was collected from the intertidal zone of San Francisco Bay at Fort Mason (Black Point) just west of the public fishing pier, from the intertidal zone on the northwest side of Yerba Buena Island, and from the splash zone at McClure's Beach. Air-dried and fresh material were examined. Paradermal (parallel to thallus surface) and vertical sections were cut with a razor blade using a dissecting microscope, mounted in water, lactophenol, or corn syrup, and examined with a standard compound microscope and an epi-fluorescence microscope. A fluorescence probe for alginate was used as described in Vreeland and Laetsch (1989) to stain brown algal cell walls.
Verrucaria tavaresiae R. Moe sp. nov.
Thallus epilithicus in saxis littoralibus, in statu vivo aequaliter piceus usque obscuro-atrovirens, impolitus, in statu sicco hepaticus cum maculis atris et margine atro, irregulariter extensus, ad 1 mm crassus, sub-coriaceus. Superficies laevis, nec rimosa nec areolata. Heteromerus, stratum corticale tenue vel carens, stratum algaceum ad 70 µm altum, medulla paraplectenchymata. Algae ad Phaeophyceas pertinentes, in filamentibus ad superficiem perpendicularibus dispositae, uniplastidiales. Perithecia immersa, applanato-ampulliformia, difficulter visibilia in statu vivo, in statu sicco manifesta. Sporae 8, eseptatae, 5-7 X 12-15 µm, paraphyses carentes. Pycnidia simplicia vel multilocularia, pycnidosporae filiformes, ca. 0.5 µm crassae, 8 µm longae.
Holotype: UC000000 upper intertidal zone at Fort Mason, San Francisco, California; R. Moe & P.C. Silva, xii.1975.
At Fort Mason Verrucaria tavaresiae occupies the middle to upper intertidal zone, adhering tenaciously to both horizontal and vertical rock surfaces. Rock at Fort Mason is Franciscan sandstone (Wahrhaftig 1984: fig. 15). The lichen occupies a zone that is immersed and exposed at least once each day. The zonation pattern here is skewed upward because of the exposure to waves generated by wind through the Golden Gate. At the Yerba Buena Island site, the lichen is found on vertical surfaces in the upper intertidal zone. At McClure's Beach, it occupies the splash zone on extremely exposed rocks. It is associated in all three locations with the crustose red alga Hildenbrandia and the crustose stage of the red alga Mastocarpus papillatus (J. Agardh) Kützing (formerly known as Petrocelis middendorfii, and colloquially called "tar spot alga"). At Fort Mason it grows among the brown algae Pelvetiopsis and Fucus. Thalli occupy patches that are variable in outline and extent, the largest seen being about 25 cm in greatest dimension. They are affixed firmly to the surface of the rock. There are no macroscopic features by which V. tavaresiae can be unequivocally distinguished from a crustose alga or the crustose base of an upright alga. When wet it is uniformly dark brownish or greenish black, and practically indistinguishable from the crust of Mastocarpus. When it is exposed to dry air, the lichen becomes first a matte black, then becomes lighter, except for a thin, blackish-brown margin. The perithecia, pycnidia, and punctulae become visible as contrasting dark spots. Very dry living thalli and some herbarium specimens become grayish-buff and have irregular black cracks. The change of color to dark tan is apparently characteristic of several species of marine Verrucaria (Lamb 1948). The thallus is soft enough to depress with a fingernail, but brittle enough to break, and never gummy like the Mastocarpus crust. The surface is smooth with no regular cracks or areolae. If the surface is covered with water, perithecia and pycnidia are barely visible with a hand lens as darker spots. In thinnest thalli perithecia are evident as slight swellings.
The thallus is 250 to 1000 µm thick and markedly zoned. Margins are ca. 100 µm thick. At the surface, except near the margins, is an algal layer ca. 75 µm thick covered by a very thin (<5 µm) layer of fungal tissue. Below the algal layer is a medulla composed of very dense tissue with densely packed, thin-walled, +- isodiametric cells. Close to the substrate and near the margins the tissue is more filamentous, but still very dense. The algal layer consists of straight algal filaments oriented perpendicularly to the thallus surface. The filament density is ca. 10 filaments per 100 µm2. Cells composing the algal filaments are are 6-10 µm in diameter and about as long as wide. Each cell has one golden-brown chloroplast. Walls of the filaments test positive for alginate, the wall material of brown algae. Filaments are not joined to each other, but are isolated by dense, hyaline fungal tissue consisting of thin-walled, cytoplasmically-dense cells 2-4 µm diam. The same small-celled tissue occurs in a layer of varying thickness below the filaments. Algal filaments are infrequently branched. The polarity of the filaments, as indicated by the divergence angle of the branches, is inconsistent, with the apex of some filaments at the lower surface of the algal layer and that of others at the upper surface. Development of the algal layer appears closely coordinated with growth at the margin. Algal cells are absent at the margin, but are present just proximally to it as branched filaments oriented in a plane parallel to the thallus surface. Further behind the margin, the algal cells branch to produce the vertical filaments evident in mature regions of the lichen. These vertical branches are produced both above and below the plane of initial branching of the horizontal filaments.
The medulla varies greatly in thickness. It is composed of thin-walled, densely packed cells 4-6 µm diam X 4-10 µm long. Cells are +/- hyaline, but have brownish or reddish-brown walls that become darker towards the base of the thallus. Vertical sections of the medulla resemble sections of crustose red algae. At the base of the thallus the fungal filaments are oriented horizontally but towards the surface they become vertically oriented. Where the thallus overgrows crustose red algae, basal hyphae seem to elongate, separating from each other and penetrating the substrate.
Perithecia are sparse or crowded, completely immersed, flask-shaped, with a dark black shield (involucrellum) of irregular outline, and are 300-500 µm diam. The internal diameter of the perithecium (excipular diameter) is 200-250 µm. The perithecial wall becomes brownish with maturity. Asci are clavate, and 40 µm long. Spores are 8 per ascus, spherical before release (when living), and become elliptical afterwards, 12-15 µm X 5-7 µm. Paraphyses were not seen. Periphyses, which are crowded, originate from the perithecial wall below and along the ostiolar channel. They are 1.5 to 2 µm thick and up to 30 µm long. They are sometimes branched but do not anastomose.
Pycnidia are abundant, smaller than perithecia, completely immersed, unilocular or +/-multilocular, of varying shape and size. Cells around the ostiole are pigmented black similarly to the cells of the involucrellum. The pigmented ostiolar region is ca. 100 µm diam. Pycnoconidia are filiform, 0.5 µm X 8 µm.
The color of the chloroplasts and presence of alginate in the walls are characteristic of brown algae. The sparingly branched filaments and monoplastidial cells are characteristic Petroderma maculiforme. Isolated algae grown in culture grow first as free filaments, and then as coalescent filaments.
KOH -; I: medulla, ascoplasm, spores yellow brown; hymenial gel light blue.
The lichen is so far known from Moss Beach, San Francisco Bay, and McClure's Beach, but it probably will be found elsewhere when California littoral lichens are surveyed. Macroalgae that occur on the open coast and in San Francisco Bay usually do not have restricted distributions. The photobiont is broadly distributed in the Arctic and Cool-temperate of the Northern Hemisphere and also found in cool regions of the Southern Hemisphere (Wilce et al. 1970).
Verrucaria tavaresiae is unique among known lichens in its association with a brown algal photobiont. The color of the photobiont and its location in a distinct palisade should make identification straightforward. Nevertheless, it is possible that it has in the past been misidentified as a different species of Verrucaria, or even as an alga such as Ralfsia or Petrocelis. Of the species of Verrucaria that are regularly immersed in seawater, only V. maura Wahlenb. and V. mucosa Wahlenb. have been recorded from central California (Herre 1910; Riefner et al. 1995). Verrucaria maura is common in temperate and colder regions of the northern and southern hemisphere, where it often forms a black band in the highest intertidal and supralittoral zones. Unlike V. tavaresiae, it is areolate and has protruding perithecia. Its photobiont has been reported as a member of Chaetophorales in material from England (Tschermak-Woess 1988) and as Heterococcus in material from Chile (Parra and Redon 1977).
Verrucaria mucosa Wahlenb. is probably the species most likely to be confused with V. tavaresiae. Like V. tavaresiae, it has immersed perithecia and is dark when living and becomes lighter upon drying. The perithecia are smaller, however (.15 mm; Purvis et al. 1992), the thallus surface is shiny, and the texture subgelatinous. Several additional species of marine Verrucaria are known from Washington (Ryan 1988a, 1988b): V. ceuthocarpa Wahlenb. ex Ach., V. degelii R. Sant., V. erichsenii Zschacke, V. halizoa Leighton, V. sandstedii de Lesd., and V. striatula Wahlenb. ex Ach. These species apparently occur at higher intertidal levels than V. tavaresiae.
Of interest in the context of brown algal photobionts is the report of Heterococcus caespitosus Vischer as the photobiont of a lichen in Chile identified as Verrucaria maura (Parra and Redon 1977). Heterococcus caespitosus, usually thought to be a freshwater alga, belongs to the Xanthophyceae, and is more closely related to brown algae than to green or blue-green algae. The figure published of the isolated photobiont makes it clear that Petroderma maculiforme is not involved. The lichen was collected from the upper intertidal zone.
Verrucaria tavaresiae, in addition to possessing an unusual photobiont, has other noteworthy features. Although periphyses (the filaments extending upwards towards the ostiole from the perithecial wall) are usually defined as unbranched, (Eriksson 1981), in V. tavaresiae they are sometimes subdichotomously branched. Lamb (1948: pp. 16, 20) records sparingly branched periphyses for V. elaeoplaca Vainio, a terrestrial Antarctic species, and V. serpuloides Lamb, a subtidal Antarctic species.
Verrucaria tavaresiae is unusual in the genus in that the photobiont is for the most part restricted to a distinct layer. In most species of Verrucaria algae are distributed throughout the thallus, though they may be more concentrated towards the surface.
Although there have been many species of Verrucaria described from the seashore, only a few occur as low in the intertidal as V. tavaresiae. It will be interesting to learn if there are any populations of the species that are subtidal or alternatively if some degree of exposure is necessary. So far, only one lichen- - V. serpuloides- -seems to be capable of complete subtidal growth. This species, which apparently occurs only in West Antarctica, grows to depths of 22 m and is intolerant of exposure (Lamb 1948 and pers. obs.).
The catholicity of Verrucaria with respect to photobionts is widely reported (though doubted by Gärtner 1992: 327), with the green algal genera Coccobotrys, Desmococcus, Dilabifilum, Myrmecia, the xanthophyte Heterococcus, and the brown alga Petroderma all being recorded (Tschermak-Woess 1988). What has not been emphasized is how different these algae are. Xanthophyceae and Phaeophyceae have been found by several molecular analyses to be sister classes, but they are unrelated to green algae (Liepe et al. 1994). Cyanobacteria, the other main taxonomic group of photobionts, are not reported from Verrucaria. If there is a positive lichenization signal or trigger in the Verrucaria symbiosis, it is something that these unrelated algae have in common, and something that is absent in cyanobacteria.
The description of Verrucaria tavaresiae brings to three the number of species of marine Verrucaria reported from California. A fourth species, V. melas, which is apparently known only from one collection at Point Lobos, San Francisco (Herre 1910), is apparently not a marine species. Although in the original description Herre wrote that V. melas grew "on rocks a few feet above the sea", this may be an error. Herre's label accompanying an isotype in CAS states "on rocks above sea- -25 to 50 ft elevation." Herre made the following annotation in 1935: "type locality has been destroyed- -face of cliff removed." The isotype is a very thin black crust.
The total of three California species seems low by comparison with the 7 to 9 species reported from Fidalgo I. in Washington (Ryan 1988a, 1988b), the 7 species reported from New England (Taylor 1982), the 8 species from Great Britain (Purvis et al. 1992), the 6 to 8 species from the Antarctic Peninsula (Lamb 1948), or the 10 reported from Scandinavia (Santesson 1993). Although marine and maritime lichens appear to be more diverse along cold coasts than warm coasts, the low number reported from California may indicate under-collection.
Veva Stansell (text) Eric B. Peterson (list compilation)
The promise of the moist Oregon coast drew lichen enthusiasts from Corvallis, Oregon to San Diego, California. Cape Sebastian juts out into the Pacific about 20 miles north of Brookings, Oregon, and provides undisturbed Picea sitchensis and Pinus contorta subsp. contorta habitat. The wind-gnarled trees and weather-battered sandstones could have held the group there all day, but there was a lot of territory to check out. Saturday afternoon saw the group heading up the Rogue River, ending up about 10 miles (as the crow flies) northeast of Gold Beach, on the Woodruff Trail. This area has a good assortment of habitats, with hardwoods, conifers, small meadows, and serpentines. Some folks continued up the Rogue River to Quosatana Campground, sampling the riparian associations with Acer macrophylla, Alnus and Umbellularia californica.
After the busy day, the participants gathered at Pistol River Friendship Hall to share a delicious meal prepared by Janet Doell and other California Lichen Society members. Several slide presentations and good discussions followed dinner.
Sunday October 20 saw the group inspecting beach areas: driftwood, beach rocks, and a small riparian area with Salix and Alnus at Lone Ranch a few miles north of Brookings; then a large beach rock near the mouth of Pistol River. Following that, the dwindling group headed toward Agness, twenty-seven miles up the Rogue River to the Illinois River, then three more miles to Oak Flat. This large meadow on the banks of the Illinois River has an old orchard, and groves of Quercus garryana and Umbellularia californica, each providing a different community of lichens.
This novice lichenologist is just beginning to realize how many species are here, and just how easily they can be overlooked. There is so much to learn, and many more unusual habitats to explore. We'll be looking forward to the 1998 Bear Camp outing!
People who participated in the field trip include: Nancy Andrich, Rudi Becking, Cheryl Beyer, Charis Bratt, Janet Doell, Ed Gross, Bill Hill, Lisa Hoover, Suzanne Isaacs, Barbara Lachelt, Crystine Masers, Jeanne McFarland, Eric Peterson, Adriane Rhodes, Connie Risley, Bruce Rittenhouse, Veva Stansell, Bob Stewart, Jennifer Stone, and Shirley and Ken Tucker.
Although not all specimens have been identified yet, a fairly complete list of the species found has been compiled. List contributions were made by Charis Bratt, Janet Doell, Shirley Tucker, and Eric Peterson. Nomenclature is as reported in list submissions, with editorial changes made to conform with Esslinger and Egan (Bryologist 98:467. 1995).
Key to collecting sites:
1. Cape Sebastian; 2. trailhead of Woodruff trail; 3. Quosatana
Campground; 4. Lone Ranch beach picnic area, three miles N of Harris
Beach Park; 5. Henry Rock, North of Brookings; 6. Oak Flat near Agness;
7. near Friendship Hall, Pistol River
In addition, one or more unidentified species were recorded from each of the following genera: Bacidia (3), Buellia (6, on rock), Caloplaca (1, 5, 6, on conifers and rock), Fuscopannaria ? (6, on oak), Hypotrachyna, Koerberia ? (6, on oak), Lecanora (1, 2, 5, 6), Lecidea (1, 3, 5, 6, on rock, Picea sitchensis, Alnus), Leproloma? (1, jade green, leprose, on Picea sitchensis bark, soil?), Ochrolechia (1,2, 3, 6, on Picea sitchensis bark, other conifers), Parmeliella (1, on soil), Pertusaria (1,3,6, on rock, Alnus), Rhizocarpon (4, on rock), Rinodina (1, 6 conifer twigs), Usnea, and Verrucaria (4, 6, on rock).
On Saturday and Sunday, January 18 - 19, 1997 CALS took a field trip to the Wantrup Wildlife Sanctuary in Napa County near Pope Valley, California. This was a joint venture with the Napa chapter of the California Native Plant Society, with members Barbara Stafford, Jake Ruygt, Juanita Donan, and Ralph Ingals attending. The CALS members attending were: Judy and Ron Robertson, Beth Sampson and Garyth Jones, Richard and Janet Doell, Bill Hill, Barbara Lachelt, John Rusk, Doris Baltzo, Ernie and Jean Fremont, and Joe Callizo. Joe Callizo is also the resident caretaker at the Sanctuary, which consists of a 730 acre ranch property with ranch house and barn, valley pasture land and wooded hillside with ponds and a stream. It was willed by the late UC Berkeley professor of Agricultural Economics, Dr. Siegfried von Ciriacy-Wantrup (1906 - 1980), as a nature preserve to the Napa County Land Trust. Many of us arrived Friday night to stay in the commodious ranch house, which serves as the headquarters for visiting naturalists and scientists. Saturday morning Joe Callizo took us on a tour of the property, which ranges in elevation from 600 to about 800 ft. We investigated the variety of lichens on fenceposts, the many oak trees, and the soil and rocks along the roads and trails winding through the hillside around the old barn. We marveled at the interesting "Eyelash Dung Cup Fungus" (Cheilymenia coprinaria) on the cattle manure under the oak trees by the barn. Included in the numerous lichens on fenceposts were Caliciales and Graphidaceae yet to be identified. After lunch back at the ranch house we drove to nearby Las Posadas Experimental Forest, stopping first at a wonderful boulder strewn hillside with sparsely spaced grey pine (Pinus sabiniana) trees just south of the Pacific Union College on the main street of Angwin. These trees are on the ridge of Howell Mountain at about 1600 ft elevation to the southwest of the Wantrup Preserve. The location was a favorite site of early Indians for chipping obsidian arrow points, and obsidian chips are present in abundance. That evening back at the ranch house, after a tasty meal for all, we studied and discussed many of the specimens we had found. Joe Callizo talked about the history and work at the Sanctuary, Richard Doell gave another of his masterful multiprojector slide shows on lichens, and the collections of the day were reviewed.
On Sunday we drove to a serpentine rock area along Butts Canyon Rd. Serpentine areas are interesting botanically because they often harbor unusual endemic species that are capable of surviving on soils that are inhospitable through low nutrients or toxicity to other species. On a dark green serpentine roadcut cliff we found patches of a muddy-brick-colored Aspicilia may represent an undescribed species.
We thank Joe Callizo for his gracious hospitality on this wonderful field trip.
Some of the species collected and identified:
Determinations: [G]=group determination, [DEB]=by Doris E Baltzo, [BR]=by Bruce Ryan. Nomenclature conforms with Esslinger & Egan (Bryologist 98:467. 1995).
Localities: W=Wantrup, A=Angwin, L=Las Posadas, B=Butts Canyon
In addition, one or more unidentified species were recorded from each of the following genera.
Acarospora, Aspicilia, Aspicilia, Buellia ?, Caloplaca, Cladonia, Collema, Dermatocarpon or Endocarpon ? (bright green wet), Hypocenomyce, Hypogymnia, Lecidea sensu lato, Melanelia, Ochrolechia, Peltula ?, Physcia, Rhizocarpon, Rinodina, Staurothele, Verrucaria, Xanthoparmelia, and Xanthoria.
A total of 18 people attended the CALS field trip to Lake Pillsbury in April. A detailed account, with lichen lists, will appear in the next Bulletin.
was again host location for a lichen field trip on January 5, 1997. The weather was remarkably cooperative.
Fourteen members of the California Native Plant Society and the Friends of San Bruno Mountain jointly held a introductory field trip to the lichens of San Bruno Mountain, led by CALS members Mikki McGee and Bill Hill. The trip emphasized lichen form types, diversity, and habitat diversity between exhaust-swept roadside Bayshore and seawind-swept summit areas. A grand time was had by all.
The MSSF hosted a slide show and demonstration of the amazing flexibility of the 1930's through 1960's "Medical student" microscope, January 28, 1997. Ten members of the MSSF came to see how simple, homemade and inexpensive accessories could aid the Medscope in revealing secrets of fungal specimens. "Critical" (Abbe-Nelsonian), polarized, darkfield, oblique, and Rheinberg "optical staining" illumination techniques were emphasized. CALS member Mikki McGee used bits of plastic, simple lenses, and other "whiz-bang penny-gizmos" (her preferred term) to de-mystify and de-technologize the effective use of this marvelous instrument, which is now readily available second-hand from many sources.
The theme of the Lichen Exhibit at the best-ever Mushroom Fair in San Francisco, December 8, 1997 was the lichens of various plant communities. This was Janet Doell's idea based on the article she and Darrell Wright wrote for the Bulletin. Ten large colored prints were surrounded by their appropriate lichens.
Lynn Marsh unified the exhibit with her banner of a California transect. Bill Hill manned his microscopes for a stream of impressionable children and their parents. Music accompanied Richard Doell's striking slides, which were shown three times during the day. Others essential to our success were Cheryl Beyers and Beth Sampson.
From Bruce McCune:
1. Noble, W.J. 1982. The Lichens of the Coastal Douglas-fir Dry Subzone of British Columbia. Ph.D. Thesis, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Part II reprinted and updated in 1997 by Bruce McCune with permission of the author. 238 pages, spiral bound. $20-.
Bruce says the original thesis was and remains "the single most valuable book for people interested in learning the crustose lichen flora west of the Cascade Range..." His version assigns Ms. Noble's unknowns where appropriate to species published since 1982, updates nomenclature and provides an index as well as pointers to recent publications on a number of groups. Additions to the original text are clearly indicated.
2. McCune, B. 1997. Key to the Lichen Genera of the Pacific Northwest. 77 pages. Stapled cloth tape binding. $6-.
These draft keys attempt to include all lichenized fungi known from the Pacific Coast inland to the Continental Divide in Montana, north to coastal southeast Alaska and south to northern California. The book includes a key to the sterile crusts reported for the region.
Bruce adds: "I am selling these in an attempt to recover my photocopying costs, but am not trying to profit by them." Send orders to
Myrica, 1840 NE Seavy Avenue, Corvallis, OR 97330, USA.
For shipping add $4- for surface mail to any destination. For air mail add $10- (western hemisphere), $15- (Europe), or $20- (elsewhere). Payment should be by U.S. check in U.S. dollars, made out to Bruce McCune, or by cash in U.S. or Canadian dollars, DM, or Swedish kronor. For more information E-mail Bruce at mccune@proaxis.com or write him at the address above.
Participation in the workshop can be one day or both days, but let the organizers know your plans.
Attendance for the full length of the field trip is necessary because of transport limitations.
Bring your own puzzling lichen collections for assistance in identification, or collections that you want to verify against herbarium specimens in the Bratt-Tucker herbarium at SBNHM. Charis Bratt and Shirley Tucker will be on hand to assist or confer.
The emphasis will be on identifying lichen crusts from California, and we will have the necessary equipment, supplies, and references on hand. We will demonstrate how to section apothecia, and how to look for spores and other features necessary for identification.
Crusts are usually the most difficult to identify and least often collected, but are also intriguing. Once identified in the lab, many crusts can be sight-identified later, in the field. Those who saw the handsome red apothecia of the crust Haematomma pacificum (= Ophioparma rubricosa fide Ekman, Opera Botanica. 1996.) on the Lake Pillsbury trip will agree that field identification of some crusts is possible.
Macrolichens (foliose and fruticose types) also can be brought, compared, and studied.
A plentiful supply of single-edge razor blades, because you can only get good sections if you change blades frequently. Your own forceps and other favorite tools. We will have some on hand, but not the best. Hand-lens. Some dissecting scopes will be available,but not enough for everyone. A hand-lens is handy to be able to check certain features such as isidia, soredia, cyphellae, etc.
Depart by plane from Camarillo Airport on Monday, Sept.22; time to be determined. We bring our own food, cook our own meals, and stay at the field station on Santa Cruz Island. Vehicles will be available for travel on the rather rough roads. A laboratory will be available; a few microscopes will be brought along for use by the group.
More detailed information about the trip, as it becomes available, will be sent to those who express an interest, by phone or mail.
Write:
Charis Bratt
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
2559 Puesta del Sol Road
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
Phone: 805/682-4711; X327;
e-mail:ccbratt@compuserve.com; or 102631.367@compuserve.com
January 31, 1998 - Field trip to San Francisco watershed property in San Mateo County, followed by 1. a corporate meeting at San Francisco State University for the installation of new officers and 2. a lecture and 3. dinner arranged in the vicinity. On Sunday the 1st of February there will be a tour of Stanford's Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve for those interested. Please make a note of these dates. Details will appear in our winter Bulletin.
Other plans for 1998, exact dates not yet available: A second field trip to Oregon with lichenologists from that area in late May or June; and a fall field trip to the Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center, part of University of California Natural Reserve System in the Eastern Mojave Desert.
The California Lichen Society continues to grow and thrive, with the membership up to 150 and the treasury in good health. Reports on our 1997 activities to date appear elsewhere in this Bulletin and will not be enumerated here.
My primary goal for CALS over the next few months is to see small local informal study groups forming in the Bay Area and elsewhere in the state. We have a lot of new members who describe themselves as beginners and who are anxious to learn something about lichens and how to determine them. This goal is more easily reached if a few people are working together. CALS member Judy Robertson has taken on the task of helping such groups get organized. Those of you living in the San Francisco Bay Area have already heard from her.
Anyone wanting more information on this project either to join a group or to start one, contact Judy Robertson at 707-584-8099.