ASCOMYCOTA | LECANOROMYCETES > LECANORALES > Parmeliaceae

Genus Flavoparmelia, meaning 'yellow Parmelia' from the colour of the thallus

Common name:            Greenshield Lichen

Synonyms:                     Parmelia caperata

Habitat:                         Woodland and wayside trees, primarily

Substrata:                     Bark, but also worked wood, plus rocks, stone etc

Growth form:                Corticolous and Saxicolous

Thallus:                  Foliose

Apothecia:                    Lecanorine

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

Thallus starts rosette-shaped, but often grows into large extensive leafy patches, up to 20cm across; yellow-grey to yellow- green when dry, becoming a distinctive apple-green colour when moist; lobes up to 1cm wide, expanded and rounded at the apices, wrinkled and overlapping, becoming much contorted and covered in coarse granular soredia when mature; the lower surface is dark, blackish towards the centre, dark brown towards the margins; apothecia rarely present, discs concave, brown-red, up to 8mm dia., with sorediate margins, concolourous to the thallus.     

Very common on acid-barked broadleaved trees, but can also occur on conifers, as well as fences, silicious rocks, memorials and tiled roofs.