ASCOMYCOTA | LECANOROMYCETES > PELTIGERALES > Peltigeraceae

Genus Peltigera, meaning 'carrying a light shield' - from the shape of the type apothecia but,

collectively, members of the genus are commonly referred to as Pelt Lichens.

Common name:            Black Saddle-lichen

Synonyms:                    -

Habitat:                         Disturbed ground, post-industrial sites, churchyards, dunes

Substrata:                     Metal-rich, and acid, sandy or stony soils, rocks                   

Growth form:                Terricolous, (saxicolous)                                  

Thallus type:                  Foliose

Apothecia:                    Lecanorine, somewhat 'bean-shaped'

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

Thallus variable, generally as compact rosettes to around 10cm or so across, but larger if fragmented and spreading, comprising elongate lobes up to 3-4cm long by 1-1.5cm wide, with irregularly scalloped and slightly upturned margins.

Upper surface usually glossy and smooth, occasionally with puffy cracks; pale greyish-green to olivaceous tinged red- brownish when dry, turning brownish to olive green when moist; variably covered with transparent to fine white-grey pruinose, at least at the lobe ends.

Underside pale at the margins darkening slightly towards the centre with a few, mostly diffused dark veins that can be difficult to see; white felty throughout.

Rhizines dark brown to black, rather simple in form, sparce and spread, although usually with a few that are in tight confluent bunches.

Apothecia mostly short-stalked, reflexed and becoming 'bean-shaped', very dark red-brown, almost black - typically, darker than in related species.

In my area, Peltigera neckeri is only likely to be confused with Peltigera hymenia as these are the only two species that could be found in similar habitat that have a glossy and smooth, rather than felty, upper surface; the main distinguishing feature though, is the presence here of white irregular patches of laminal pruina, but also the thallus is said to be thicker and more leathery, and the lobes are more likely to be scattered and, if stripped back, the underside should be much darker towards the centre with fewer and wider dark, rather than pale, veins.

Peltigera neckeri is regarded as local and infrequent, possibly overlooked and under-recorded species, occurring mostly on mosses and metal-rich, acid, sandy or stony disturbed ground, with post-industrial sites, churchyards and tennis courts listed as possible locations. It would be rare in base-rich grasslands. In the New Forest it has been found on the sites of old WWII installations as well as the lichen-rich rough grass area at Blandford, which is the site of an old sandpit that was infilled with washed waste sand and then sown with grass seed back in 1992.

NB. this 'species account' and accompanying photos will be regularly reviewed, refined and/or amended as further samples are found and inspected - I believe the details are correct, but I'm also mindful that, in some cases, the source information varies, even to the point of being slightly contradictory, so I want to ensure the page is as accurate as possible.