Plants of the Gila Wilderness
Presented in Association with the
Western New Mexico University Department
of Natural Sciences
Xanthoria fallax (Hepp ex Arnold) Arnold
Hooded Sunburst Lichen
Xanthoria fallax is a small orange foliose lichen with soralia on the lobe tips bearing greenish yellow soredia. The thallus splits and forms a hood-like structure containing the soredia. This lichen grows on wood, and in the case of this particular specimen, on a wooden fence post. The undersurface is white. The cortex has a red-purple reaction to KOH. The photobiont is Trebouxia, a single celled green alga.
Please click on an image for a larger file.
Xanthoria fallax, growing on wooden fence post, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, Aspen Grove, March 8, 2018
Xanthoria fallax, closeup, growing on wooden fence post, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, Aspen Grove, March 8, 2018
Xanthoria fallax, 1x macro, growing on wooden fence post, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, Aspen Grove, March 8, 2018
Xanthoria fallax, 3x macro, growing on wooden fence post, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, Aspen Grove, March 8, 2018
Xanthoria fallax, photomicrograph of thallus and soralia, growing on wooden fence post, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, Aspen Grove, March 8, 2018
Xanthoria fallax, photomicrograph of undersurface of thallus, growing on wooden fence post, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, Aspen Grove, March 8, 2018
Xanthoria fallax, photomicrograph of cross section of thallus, growing on wooden fence post, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, Aspen Grove, March 8, 2018
Xanthoria fallax, photomicrograph of cross section red-purple color of thallus in KOH, growing on wooden fence post, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, Aspen Grove, March 8, 2018
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