Foveolaria nivalis

Common name	Crinkled Snow Lichen	Code: FOVENIV
Field Characters	Leafy, yellow chlorolichens that resembles fruticose lichens. Thalli of erect, wrinkled, sparsely branching lobes, to 8 cm tall. Upper and lower cortices pale yellow, with marginal pycnidia. Pseudocyphellae punctiform on the lower cortex. Apothecia rare, terminal, when present large, with brown discs. Lacking soredia or isidia. Lobes have an orange base.
Similar species & genera	Flavocetraria cucullata: smooth, inrolled lobes with purplish bases. Similarly shaped, co-occurring species are different colors. Cetraria species are brown. Vulpicida tilesii is bright yellow.
Ecology	Terricolous, on soil or moss, or over rocks, often mixed with other lichens. Occasional across all forested, subalpine and alpine regions in Alberta, rare in the parkland, absent from the grassland.
Chemistry	Cortices C–, K–, KC+ yellow, PD– (usnic acid, ± isousnic acid), medulla C–, K–, KC–, PD–, UV- or UV+ blue-white (±squamatic acid).
Molecular support	Strong at species and genus level (Chesnokov et al. 2023).
Links	ABMI Biodiversity Browser Consortium of Lichen Herbaria Ways of Enlichenment Photo Gallery
Gallery