''Lecidea hassei'' (Hasse's lecidea lichen) is an endolithic lichen that appears as tiny black, gray rimmed, plate-like or crinkled discs between crystals of rock in California. The main body grows ''inside'' solid rock (endolithic), and the crinkled discs above the rock surface are the sexual reproduction structures. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, where it only grows in the lower montane belt, including in deserts and

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterrane ...

.The Lichen Flora of Joshua Tree National Park An Annotated Checklist, Kerry Knudsen, Mitzi Harding, Josh Hoines, National Park Service

/ref> It occurs in

Joshua Tree National Park Joshua Tree National Park is an American national park in southeastern California, east of San Bernardino and Los Angeles and north of Palm Springs. It is named after the Joshua trees (''Yucca brevifolia'') native to the Mojave Desert. Original ...

.Lichens, Joshua Tree National Park, National Park Service
/ref> The sexual reproduction structures (

apothecia An ascocarp, or ascoma (), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. Ascocarps are mo ...

) are black, thinly rimmed (70–100 µm ) with unpigmented fungal tissue surrounding black discs in the middle, and up to 2.2 mm in diameter. They rise out of the rock in a flat to convex disc with a constricted base, giving the appearance of tiny raised plates. It grows in open areas on

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

, and other

acidic rock Acidic rock or acid rock refers to the chemical composition of igneous rocks that has 63% wt% SiO2 content. Rocks described as acidic usually contain more than 20% of free quartz. Typical acidic rocks are granite or rhyolite. Term is used in chem ...

. It resembles ''

Lecidea laboriosa ''Lecidea laboriosa'' is a species of lichen that grows inside solid rock ( endolithic), with only the small black disc-like fruiting bodies (apothecia) visible above the rock surface.Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale Un ...

'' but produces schizopeltic acid as a metabolite, instead of 4-O-demethyl planaic acid. The

species epithet Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany) A botanical name ...

honors H.E. Hasse, who wrote the 1913 "Lichen Flora of Southern California". Lichen spot tests are negative on both the cortex and medulla (K−, C−, KC−, P−).

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10556036 Lichen species Lecideales Fungi of California Lichens described in 1912 Taxa named by Alexander Zahlbruckner Fungi without expected TNC conservation status

See also

References