Xanthoria Explained

Xanthoria is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. Common names include orange lichen,^[1] orange wall lichen,^[2] and sunburst lichen.^[2] They can be identified by their characteristic squamulose morphology with distinctive "fairy cups".

Species

, Species Fungorum (in the Catalogue of Life) accepts 19 species of Xanthoria.

• Xanthoria aureola
• Xanthoria calcicola
• Xanthoria coomae
• Xanthoria ectaneoides
• Xanthoria hypogymnioides
• Xanthoria ibizaensis
• Xanthoria juniperina
• Xanthoria kangarooensis
• Xanthoria lapalmaensis
• Xanthoria parietina – common orange lichen, yellow scale, maritime sunburst lichen, shore lichen
• Xanthoria polessica
• Xanthoria rutilans
• Xanthoria schummii
• Xanthoria splendidula
• Xanthoria ulophyllodes – powdery sunburst lichen^[3]
• Xanthoria whinrayi
• Xanthoria yorkensis

The taxa Xanthoria coomae and Xanthoria polessica were determined to be the same species as X. parietina in a 2020 publication. The taxon once known as Xanthoria elegans is now Rusavskia elegans, the type species of genus Rusavskia.

Notes and References

1. http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=xanth9 Xanthoria.
2. Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014,
3. Waleski Joe (2007). Lichens of the North Woods Duluth, MN: Kollath+Stensaas