Alectoria
Alectoria Ach., 1809
| Common name | Witch’s hair Lichens |
|---|---|
| Field Characters | Fruticose, hair-like chlorolichen. Usnic yellow, often with melanotic segments, stiff, pendant. Branches angular to circular but not ribbon-like or flattened. Cortex thick and dull, with obvious linear pseudophellae that can be plane or slightly raised. Lacking soredia, some species isidiate, commonly fertile. |
| Similar species & genera |
Ramalina thrausta: cortex shiny, strands end in curled tips.
Usnea: has an elastic central cord. Bryoria: more fragile, rounded branches, often darker in color (brown to black) but some species are pale; never KC+ yellow, chemistry variable. |
| Ecology | Epiphytic, mainly on conifers in foothills and mountain sites, occasionally on the ground in alpine/tundra environments; sparse in the boreal. |
| Chemistry | Cortex PD-, K-, KC+ oily yellow (usnic acid), medulla KC+ – or red (±alectoronic acid) |
| Molecular support |
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| Links |
Species recorded in Alberta: 4
- A. imshaugii Brodo & D. Hawksw. (ACIMS, RAM)
- A. ochroleuca (Hoffm.) A. Massal. (ACIMS, RAM)
- A. sarmentosa (Ach.) Ach. (ACIMS, RAM)
- A. vexillifera (Nyl.)Stizenb.(ACIMS, RAM)
Click for pdf key to Alectoria in Alberta v.2025
RENR Students: Know Alectoria sarmentosa – be able to key this species out or recognize it (it is also covered in Brodo et al. 2001 and Goward 1999).
Resources
McMullin, R. T., J. C. Lendemer, H. E. Braid, and S. G. Newmaster. 2016. Molecular insights into the lichen genus Alectoria (Parmeliaceae) in North America. Botany 94: 165-173.
Fruticose: clearly 3-dimensional, one cortex surrounds thallus (but may be ecorticate), often branched, may resemble shrubs, hair or stick-pins; easily detached from substrate with very limited attachment points.
Chlorolichen (plural: chlorolichens): lichens where the dominant photosynthetic partner is a green alga like Trebouxia.
Cortex (plural: cortices): outer protective layer of a lichen thallus, composed of fungal cells embedded in a matrix. Many foliose lichens have differentiated upper and lower cortices, while some lichens have only an upper cortex (e.g., Peltigera), and fruticose lichens typically have one homogenous cortex. Line drawing reproduced courtesy of BC Ministry of Forests and T. Goward, from Goward et al. 1994, fig. 4.
Pseudocyphellum (plural: pseudocyphellae): small irregular pits in the cortex through which the medulla shows. Pseudocyphellae translates to “false window” and they lack a ‘frame’ or lining of specialized cells found in true cyphellae.
