Plants of the Gila Wilderness

Xanthoria elegans is a small bright orange lichen found on rock surfaces in bright sunlight. Abundant apothecia with orange rims and discs are common and seem to occasionally make up the entire surface. The thallus is convex on top, white underneath, without rhizines, and easily lifted from the substrate. Similar lichens in the genus Caloplaca are truly crustose and cannot be removed from the substrate with damaging the lichen. Soralia and soredia are absent, differentiating it from Xanthoria fallax. The sunburst growth habit of X. elegans can be obscured when the thallus becomes older and confluent into a large population. The cortex is dark reddish purple in KOH.
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Xanthoria elegans, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, CD trail near the Arrastra site, April 25, 2018

Xanthoria elegans, macro, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, CD trail near the Arrastra site, April 25, 2018

Xanthoria elegans, macro, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, CD trail near the Arrastra site, April 25, 2018

Xanthoria elegans, photomicrograph of thallus and apothecium, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, CD trail near the Arrastra site, April 25, 2018

Xanthoria elegans, photomicrograph of thallus, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, CD trail near the Arrastra site, April 25, 2018

Xanthoria elegans, photomicrograph of area nearly all apothecium, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, CD trail near the Arrastra site, April 25, 2018

Xanthoria elegans, photomicrograph of white undersurface, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, CD trail near the Arrastra site, April 25, 2018

Xanthoria elegans, photomicrograph of color reaction in KOH, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, CD trail near the Arrastra site, April 25, 2018