''Parmotrema'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 ...

belonging to the family

Parmeliaceae The Parmeliaceae is a large and diverse family of Lecanoromycetes. With over 2700 species in 71 genera, it is the largest family of lichen-forming fungi. The most speciose genera in the family are the well-known groups: '' Xanthoparmelia'' ( 82 ...

. It is a large genus, containing an estimated 300 species, with a centre of diversity in

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

regions of South America and the

Pacific Islands The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...

. Members of the genus are commonly called ruffle lichens or scatter-rag lichens.Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014,

Description

''Parmotrema'' is characterized by its typically large, moderately to loosely-attached

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 ...

thallus with broad lobes that are usually more than 5 mm wide. There is a broad, naked zone around the margin of the lower surface, an epicortex with pores and an upper

cortex Cortex or cortical may refer to: Biology * Cortex (anatomy), the outermost layer of an organ ** Cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the vertebrate cerebrum, part of which is the ''forebrain'' *** Motor cortex, the regions of the cerebral cortex i ...

with a palisade- plectenchymatous arrangement of

hypha A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one o ...

Ascospore In fungi, an ascospore is the sexual spore formed inside an ascus—the sac-like cell that defines the division Ascomycota, the largest and most diverse Division (botany), division of fungi. After two parental cell nucleus, nuclei fuse, the ascu ...

s are thick-walled and

ellipsoid An ellipsoid is a surface that can be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional Scaling (geometry), scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation. An ellipsoid is a quadric surface; that is, a Surface (mathemat ...

Taxonomy

''Parmotrema'' was proposed as a genus by Italian lichenologist Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo in 1860, with '' Parmotrema perforatum'' as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

. The genus name, composed of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''parmos'' (cup) and ''trema'' (perforation), refers to the perforate

apothecia An ascocarp, or ascoma (: ascomata), 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. As ...

. ''Parmotrema'' was largely ignored as a genus, and its species were usually grouped in

section Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

''Amphigymnia'' of the large genus '' Parmelia''. Several genera previously segregated from ''Parmotrema'' have since been folded back in owing to

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

evidence, including ''Canomaculina'', ''Concamerella'', ''Parmelaria'', and ''Rimelia''.

Uses

Some species of ''Parmotrema'' can be used as a vegetable dye, such as ''P. crinitum''. When mixed with pine sap or with water, or when first burnt to ash, lichens can provide a variety of colors such as yellow, brown, green, orange, purple, and red.Lichens - US Forest Service
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Gallery

Image:Parmotrema_tinctorum_umenokigoke01.jpg, '' Parmotrema tinctorum'' File:Powdered Ruffle Lichen (982620239).jpg, '' Parmotrema chinense''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10620680 Lecanorales genera Lichen genera Taxa named by Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo Taxa described in 1860 Plant dyes

Description

Taxonomy

Uses

Gallery

See also

References