Leprose Lichens (Dust)

Leprose Lichens (Dust)

Leprose lichens are of the simplest form. The fungal and algal components grow as powdery or granular patches with little or no organized structure; they do not form a smooth thallus. These lichens lack both an upper and lower cortex, the medulla being attached directly to the substrate so that the lichen cannot be separated from it intact. The medulla’s upper surface disintegrates into a continuous covering of fine powder.
Leprose lichens are an odd group of lichens which have never been observed to produce fruiting bodies. Because knowledge of the form of the fruiting bodies is essential to the identification of fungi, these lichens have not yet been identified properly or at least not yet given full scientific names.

Leprose lichen (Terricolous lichen) meaning a soil lichen.

A yellow leprose lichen (Chrysothrix candelaris) on tree fern trunk

A Leprose lichen (Corticolous lichen) meaning growing on living bark. 

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