SPECIES FACT SHEET
Common Name: California dirina
Scientific Name: Sigridea californica
Recent synonyms: Dirina californica, Schismatomma californicum
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Ascomycetes
Order: Opegraphales
Family: Roccellaceae
Technical Description: Thallus crustose, 0.1-0.3 mm thick, white to
greenish gray, smooth to roughened or sometimes subareolate, cortex 10
μm thick or sometimes poorly developed, medulla thin or not evident,
lacking crystals of calcium oxalate; soredia and isidia absent. Apothecia
(0.2) 0.5-1.0 mm in diameter, numerous and often crowded, sessile to
slightly stalked, the margins round, sinuate or irregular if crowded,
margins with different color than disc (lecanorine), well developed or
sometimes lacking a cortex, the disc flat to convex, black but more
commonly appearing to be covered with gray powder (pruina); surface of
spore-bearing layer of disc (epihymenium) 10-20 μm thick, the tips of the
paraphyses without adherent granules; spore-bearing layer of disc
(hymenium) 60-70 μm thick, gel absent, hyphae branched; tissue below
hymenium (hypothecium) 120-210 μm thick, pale to dark brown or
blackish. Asci 50-60 x 10-15 μm, club-shaped (clavate), with two walls
(bitunicate). Spores 8 per ascus, narrowly elliptical (fusiform), curved,
often tapered more on one end than the other, (13) 15-18 (24) x 3-4.5
μm, hyaline, 4-celled. Paraphyses hyaline, loose, slender, unbranched to
interwoven and net-like, 1 μm in diameter, divided by cross walls (septae)
into segments 10 μm long. Immersed, urn-shaped asexual reproductive
structures (pycnidia) with tiny spores (conidia) single-celled, 2-4 x 1-2
μm, curved, hyaline. Photosynthetic partner (photobiont, phycobiont) is
the green alga Trentepohlia. (Fink 1935; Tehler 1993).
Chemistry: Thallus C-, K- or yellowish, P+ yellow. Apothecial disc C-, K-,
P+ yellow. Epihymenium I-, KI+ blue. Hypothecium K+ olive-black.
(Tehler 1993).
Distinctive characters: White crustose thallus on bark or decaying
wood, with black, pruinose apothecia and long 4-celled spores. Similar
species: Many crustose species could look superficially similar to this
species. A cross-section of an apothecium is required for identification.
Schismatomma rediunta has a thallus with crystals of calcium oxalate,
rounded to elongate apothecia 0.3-0.8 mm in diameter with a
rudimentary thalline margin, spores 20-25 μm long with 3-9 cross walls.
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Other descriptions and illustrations: Fink (1935) (as Dirina californica):
124; Tehler (1993): 429; Tucker and Thiers (1998): 7; Brodo et al. (2001):
132; Tehler (2002): 461; McCune (2006): 19, 30; Sharnoff (2009); Stone
(2009): photo attached.
Life History: Details for Sigridea californica are not documented.
Dispersal is presumably by spores and fragmentation of the thallus.
Range, Distribution, and Abundance: Endemic to coastal California
and Oregon. In Oregon, known only from Cape Blanco State Park.
National Forests: none documented, suspected on Siuslaw NF because of
presence of similar habitat in Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area
(McCune et al. 1997). Suspected by the Rogue-River/Siskiyou National
Forest. BLM Districts: none documented, suspected on Coos Bay District
because of proximity to known site at Cape Blanco State Park.
Rare in the Pacific Northwest, where probably undercollected.
Habitat Associations: On bark of trees and shrubs, and on decaying
wood in dry, open deciduous or coniferous woodland and chaparral.
Rangewide, host trees include Cupressus, Pinus, Quercus, and Rhus;
shrubs include Adenostoma, Baccharis, and Heteromeles. In Oregon, the
forest type of the single known locality is a Picea sitchensis association.
Threats: Overcollecting at known sites, forest encroachment in open
coastal stands of trees and shrubs in the absence of fire. Other threats
poorly documented. At risk from fire in mature coastal plant
communities (Bowler, no date).
Conservation Considerations: Revisit known localities and monitor the
status of populations. Search for new populations on federal and state
lands. Surveys in suitable habitat and protection of known sites should
be a priority. The best opportunity for conservation would be on federal
land and in state parks.
Conservation rankings: Global: G3; National: NNR. Oregon Natural
Heritage Information Center: List 3 (S1).
Preparer: John A. Christy, with edits from Daphne Stone
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Date Completed: February 2009
References
Bowler, P. (no date). Prescribed burning impacts on late successional
species. Restoration Ecology Web Server, University of California,
Irvine.
http://www.dbc.uci.edu/~sustain/EcologicalRestoration/PapersPoste
rs/PrescribedBurn.html.
Accessed 20 February 2009.
Brodo, I.M., S.D. Sharnoff & S. Sharnoff. 2001. Lichens of North
America. Yale University Press, New Haven and London. 795 pp.
Fink, B. 1935. The lichen flora of the United States. University of
Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. 426 pp. + plates.
McCune, B. 2006. Key to the lichen genera of the Pacific Northwest.
Oregon State University, Corvallis. 82 pp.
http://oregonstate.edu/~mccuneb/pnw.PDF. Accessed 20 February
2009.
_______, R. Rosentreter & A. Debolt. 1997. Biogeography of rare lichens
from the coast of Oregon. Pp. 234-241 in: T.N. Kaye, A. Liston, R.M.
Love, D.L. Luoma, R.J. Meinke & M.V. Wilson (eds.) Conservation and
management of native plants and fungi. Native Plant Society of
Oregon, Corvallis, Oregon. 296 pp.
Tehler, A. 2002. Sigridea. In: Nash III, T.H., Ryan, B., Gries, C. &
Bungartz, F. (eds.), Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert
Region. Volume I (the pyrenolichens and most of the squamulose and
macrolichens): 461-462. Lichens Unlimited, Tempe, Arizona, USA.
Oregon Natural Heritage Information Center. 2007. Rare, threatened and
endangered species of Oregon. Oregon Natural Heritage Information
Center, Oregon State University. Portland. 100 pp.
http://oregonstate.edu/ornhic/2007_t&e_book.pdf
Sharnoff, S.D. 2009. Online photograph of Sigridea californica.
http://www.sharnoffphotos.com/lichensG/sigridea_californica.html.
Accessed 20 February 2009.
Tehler, A. 1993. The genus Sigridea (Roccellaceae,
Euascomycetidae). Nova Hedwigia 57(3-4): 417-435.
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Arthoniales,
Tucker, S. & H. Thiers. 1998. Key to crustose lichen genera of California.
Bulletin of the California Lichen Society 5 (1).
http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/rlmoe/cals5_1.html.
Accessed 20 February 2009
Sigridea californica. Thallus and apothecia. Photo by Daphne Stone,
2009.
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