SPECIES FACT SHEET
Common Name: oak-pin lichen
Scientific Name: Calicium quercinum
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Lecanorales
Family: Caliciaceae
Technical Description: Crustose lichen. Photosynthetic partner Trebouxia. Thallus visible on
substrate (superficial), thick, bumpy (verrucose)-granular, dull, white to grey or greyish green.
Spore-producing structure (apothecium) pin-like, comprised of a lentil-shaped head (capitulum)
0.16 - 0.6 mm diameter on a slender stalk. Capitulum containing mass of powdery black spores
(mazaedium) with fine white powder (pruina) on lower surface; pruina sometimes covering
entire capitulum when young. The stalk including capitulum 0.5-1 mm tall, 0.08-0.24 mm
diameter, height : width ratio 5-8. Stalk, 2-3 µm in diameter, forming a denser tissue towards the
surface; black, matt. Spore sacs (asci) cylindrical, 24-39 x 4-5 µm, disintegrating ; spores 2celled (1-septate), arranged in one or two lines (uniseriate or biseriate), 8-13 x 4-6 µm, with
ornamentation of spirally arranged ridges and irregular cracks.
Chemistry: Thallus P+ yellow, C-, K+ yellow-red. All parts of fruiting body I-.
Distinctive characters: Well-developed thick white to green-grey, superficial thallus, whitepruinose apothecia, cylindrical asci, ascospores with spirally arranged ridges. Similar species:
Calicium glaucellum may have a white pruina but it (1) has an immersed thallus and (2) the
spores have a coarse and irregular ornamentation. Calicium corynellum has a faint pruina and
similar spores, but grows on rock. Calicium parvum has a faint white pruina along the edge of
the apothecium, but the spores are only slightly ornamented and are constricted at the septum.
Calicium hyperelloides has a white pruina on the rim of the apothecium but (1) the spores are
ornamented with minute cracks and (2) the thallus is C+ orange. Other descriptions and
illustrations: Tibell 1999: 27; Peterson 2006a; Purvis et al. 1992: 140-141.
Life History: Details for Calicium quercinum are not documented. The stalked apothecia may
facilitate spore dispersal by wind or contact with passing arthropods and birds (Peterson 2006b).
Growth and dispersal rates of Calicium are probably very slow, and substrate requirements are
such that it does not appear in forests until they are at least 100 years old. The only known site in
the Pacific Northwest is on an old-growth stand of Quercus garryana.
Range, Distribution, and Abundance: Found only twice in North America, in Illinois and
Oregon. Known from Great Britain but not found there in the 20th century. Known from Spain
and central Europe. Rare in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The Oregon site is from
Benton County, on non-federal land.
National Forests: none documented. Suspected from Willamette and Umpqua forests. Suspected
from Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. BLM Districts: none documented. Suspected
from the Eugene, Roseburg, Medford and Salem Districts.
1
Habitat: The single known occurrence in the Pacific Northwest is on bark of old Quercus
garryana trunks in an open grove. In Europe, also found on Acer, Fraxinus, and Ulmus. Pin
lichens are strongly associated with trees and snags within, or developed from, old-growth
forests (Selva 1994).
Threats: This species appears to be threatened world-wide. Cutting of ancient oak trees or
removal of dying trees is the main threat in the Pacific Northwest. Loss of Oregon white oak
habitat is reported throughout the region. Oak woodlands and savannahs in the Willamette
Valley of Oregon have declined to less than 15% of their pre-European settlement extent. In
British Columbia, loss of Oregon white oak habitat has exceeded 95%. Habitat loss is primarily a
result of fire suppression, altered land use, and introduced non-native species and heavy grazing.
Slightly more than 83% of Oregon white oak habitat is privately owned (Gucker 2007).
Continued development in the Willamette Valley threatens remaining oaks.
Conservation Considerations: Protect the known site of Calicium quercinum in Oregon and
monitor the status of this population. Managers of the site have agreed not to remove dead trees,
but attempts to introduce this species to nearby trees so far have been unsuccessful. Search for
new populations on federal lands. Protect oaks supporting known populations or habitat from
road work and soil compaction.
Conservation Rankings: G3G4; National: NNR; Oregon Natural Heritage Information Center:
List 3 (S1).
Preparer: Daphne Stone, with edits from John A. Christy and Rob Huff
Date Completed: 31 Dec 2007; updated March 2009 with addition of Attachment 2 (Map of Oregon and
Washington locations).
ATTACHMENTS:
(1)
(2)
List of References
Map of locations of Calicium quercinum in Oregon and Washington
Attachment 1 – List of References
Links are provided below to guide you to additional information that be helpful in understanding
this species. Included are links to illustrations, photographs, maps and ranking information used
to determine threats and status by State Heritage Programs.
Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Map of Results. Accessed 29 December 2007.
http://data.gbif.org/species/14368739/
Gucker, Corey L. 2007. Quercus garryana. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory .
Accessed 30 December 2007. http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/
2
Middelborg, J. 2005. The lichen order Caliciales. Accessed 29 December 2007.
http://www.thavibu.com/caliciales/index.htm
Oregon Natural Heritage Information Center. 2007. Rare, threatened and endangered species of
Oregon. Oregon Natural Heritage Information Center, Oregon State University. Portland. 100
pp. Accessed 29 December 2007.
http://oregonstate.edu/ornhic/2007_t&e_book.pdf
Peterson, E. 2006a. Crustose.net, Photography from the lichenological community. Accessed 30
December 2007. http://www.non-parametric.com/photos/main.php
_______. 2006b. Calicium adspersum, sponsorship for the CALS conservation committee. The
Bulletin of the California Lichen Society 13: 51-54
Peterson, E. & B. McCune, 2000. Environmental relations of calicioid lichens and fungi in a
temperate landscape. In: Peterson, E. B. Analysis and prediction of patterns in lichen
communities over the western Oregon landscape. Ph.D. dissertation, Oregon State
University, Corvallis.
Purvis, O, W., B. J. Coppins, D. L. Hawksworth, P. W. James & D. M. Moore, eds. 1992. The
Lichen Flora of Great Britain and Ireland. Natural History Museum Publications, London.
710 p.
Rikkinin, J. 2003. Calicioid lichens and fungi in the forests and woodlands of western Oregon.
Acta Botanica Fennica 175: 1-41.
Selva, S. B. 1994. Lichen diversity and stand continuity in northern hardwoods and spruce-fir
forests of northern New England and western New Brunswick. The Bryologist 97: 424-429.
Selva, S. B. 1996. Using lichens to assess ecological continuity in northeastern forests. Pp. 35-48
in: M. B. Davis (ed.), Eastern old-growth forests: prospects for rediscovery and recovery.
Island Press, Washington, D. C. 399 pp.
Tibell, L. 1999. Nordic Lichen Flora. Volume 1. Calicioid lichens and fungi, pp. 20-93. The
Nordic Lichen Society, Uddevalla, Sweden. 94 pp.
3
Attachment 2 - Map of locations of Calicium quercinum in Oregon and Washington
4