Peltigera elisabethae

Diane L. Haughland

Peltigera elisabethae Gyeln, 1927

Common name	Concentric Pelt
Code	PELTELI
Field Characters	Medium sized leafy bipartite cyanolichen. Colonies composed of shallowly lobed, rosettiform or overlapping thalli, sometimes forming colonies > 1 m across. Upper surface plane to slightly dimpled, with upturned, ruffled lobe tips, mostly lacking pruina, and never tomentose. Cortex typically shiny, grey to brownish-grey when dry, blue-grey to dark grey when wet. Lower cortex lacking, lower surface covered in a broad and indistinct, contrasting network of flat veins and rounded interstices. Veins pale marginally, abruptly transitioning to black. Rhizines abundant, aligned in concentric rows, black and tufted. Apothecia red-brown, flat and plate-like to scarcely rolled under. Lobules common and often very abundant, marginal and along cracks and grazing scars on the thallus.
Similar species	Peltigera neckeri: apothecia held erect, tightly rolled like a hotdog bun, and black, veins typically narrower and more distinct, rhizines unaligned, lacking lobules. Peltigera horizontalis: veins more distinct, lacks lobules, more dimpled on the upper surface where rhizines arise below. Very rare in Alberta.
Ecology	Typically on soil, mosses, downed wood and tree bases in mature to old-growth forests of various types. Common in foothills, mountain, boreal, and shield sites, rare in the parkland and absent from the grassland.
Chemistry	Not investigated.
Molecular support	High, represented by 63 specimens in a single well-supported molecular clade.
Links	ABMI Biodiversity Browser Consortium of Lichen Herbaria Ways of Enlichenment Photo Gallery
Gallery