ASCOMYCOTA | LECANOROMYCETES > PERTUSARIALES > Icmadophilaceae

Common name:             Pink Earth Lichen

Synonyms:                     Baeomyces roseus

Habitat:                           Heathland, moors

Substrata:                       Peat and bare acid soils

Growth forms:               Terricolous                          

Thallus type:                   Crustose

Apothecia:                     Stalked, but frequently sterile

BLS identity rating: Graded 1/5 (identification should be straightforward)

Thallus consisting of an uneven, albeit smooth, sometimes shiny, underlying crust, forming small irregular patches; frequently sterile, when coarsely granular, scattered with variously sized, usually shiny, pearly-white schizidia (balls), each up to 1mm dia., but with some regions powdery to farinose sorediate; whitish grey to pale greenish-grey when wet; apothecia, if present, stalked, up to 6mm high, bearing globular pale pink to pinkish-orange domed caps.

Some authors refer to the more frequent form as forme sterile.

Dibaeis baeomyces is primarily an upland species, far more common in the west and north, and in Scotland, than on lowland heaths where it is more likely to be sterile. It grows on peaty or bare acid soils, usually in damp habitats, and mainly confined to areas of level, compacted and disturbed ground along paths or in old quarries.

From personal experience, the sterile form, as pictured below, could easily be mistaken for patches of Pycnothelia papillaria that may well be found in the same habitat, unless viewed closely when it becomes apparent that the texture of the thallus is noticeably different; also, in respect of the latter, there are usually a few podetia showing that may not be obvious when first viewed from above.

The rather splendid specimens with apothecia that I found on Half Moon Common were, as the captions confirm, growing on very wet ground alongside a ditch, which I presume is probably dry during the summer. They were photographed a couple of months after the above account was written and, I have to say, were quite unexpected particularly as I wasn't even aware that the species occurred on this site.