''Lecidea'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...
of
crustose
Crustose is a habit of some types of algae and lichens in which the organism grows tightly appressed to a substrate, forming a biological layer. ''Crustose'' adheres very closely to the substrates at all points. ''Crustose'' is found on rocks a ...
lichens with a carbon black ring or outer margin (
exciple
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.[apothecium
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 ...]
), usually (or always) found growing on (
saxicolous) or in (
endolithic) rock.
[Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, ] Lichens that have such a black exciple are called
lecideine, meaning "like ''Lecidea'', even if they are not in this genus.
[ Members of the genus are commonly called disk lichens or tile lichens.][
]
Selected species
According to the ''Dictionary of the Fungi'' (10th edition, 2008), the widespread genus contains an estimated 427 species.[
* '' Lecidea atrobrunnea''
* '' Lecidea hassei''
* '' Lecidea keimioeensis''
* '' Lecidea laboriosa''
* '' Lecidea lithophila''
]
References
Lecideales genera
Lichen genera
Taxa named by Erik Acharius
Lecideales
Taxa described in 1803
{{Lecanoromycetes-stub