''Degelia plumbea'' (also called blue felt lichen) is a species of grey to blue-black or brown

foliose A foliose lichen is a lichen with flat, leaf-like , which are generally not firmly bonded to the substrate on which it grows. It is one of the three most common lichen growth forms, growth forms of lichens. It typically has distinct upper and lo ...

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

in the genus ''

Degelia ''Degelia'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Pannariaceae. The genus is named after Swedish lichenologist Gunnar Degelius. The genus was circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed by Lars Arvidsson and David John Galloway in 1981 ...

''. It mostly grows on trees in undisturbed woodlands but occasionally on coastal rocks. It is found widely in Britain and western Ireland as well as in America and Canada, as it grows in

maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...

Atlantic climates. ''D. plumbea'' is highly sensitive to

acid rain Acid rain is rain or any other form of Precipitation (meteorology), precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists b ...

and climatic changes. ''D. plumbea'' and other lichen are highly sensitive to high light and have a high-water holding capacity. Other factors like method of dispersal and obtaining the appropriate substrate effects the growth and prosperity of the fungi. The genes in the ''D. plumbea'' don’t share a common ancestral gene through speciation due to potential environmental changes. '' Degelia cyanoloma'' was previously thought to be a variant of ''D. plumbea''. In 2022, the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

formally declared blue felt lichen as its provincial lichen, becoming the first province in the country to designate a provincial lichen.

References

Pannariaceae Lichen species Lichens described in 1777 Lichens of Europe Lichens of North America Lichens of Eastern Canada {{Peltigerales-stub