Lichen - unnamed 27

Lecanora campestris subsp. campestris is commonly found in the south of Britain on walls and headstones.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Lecanora campestris subsp. campestris
Family: 
Lichens
Family Latin name: 
LECANORACEAE
Category: 
Fungi

Species description

Species description

Lecanora campestris subsp. campestris is commonly found in the south of Britain on walls and headstones. In the cemetery, it was found on a sandstone headstone. More information on this lichen species can be found on:

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)

Details

Species family information

The Lecanoraceae family of lichens contains nearly 800 species of lichen. They are widely distributed throughout the world. 

NOTE: there are perhaps 120 families of lichen species. None of these have an English common name. We have therefore given them all the shared family name of ‘Lichens’. Although this is scientifically incorrect, it is better than saying something like ‘No English family name’. It also enables us to list all lichens on the search page by using this term.

Category information

Of surviving life forms, the Bacteria are the most ancient, followed by the Archaea. These two groups, the Prokaryotes, lack a membrane-bound nucleus in their cells. From this lineage evolved the Eukaryotes, possessing a nucleus in their cells, two types of which evolved, the Unikonta, with a single appendage (flagellum) for propulsion, and the Bikonta, with two appendages (flagella). The Unikonta gave rise to first the Fungi, then the Animals. The Bikonta evolved into the Algae and Plants. The Fungi therefore share a common ancestor with the Animals, whereas neither is closely related to plants. For this reason, vegans and vegetarians should not eat mushrooms or other fungi, nor eat bread or consume alcoholic drinks because they are prepared using yeast, a fungus.

Colloquially, the word ‘mushroom’ is used for edible species and ‘toadstool’ for poisonous species, but there is actually no scientific distinction between these words. Mycologists, the scientists who study fungi, use the term ‘mushroom’ for all species that have the familiar fruiting bodies that we see above ground. Many fungal groups do not have fruiting bodies, and they have a terminology of their own.

Unlike plants fungi can’t make their own food, but must derive it from plants or animals, living or dead. Fungi called saprophytes serve an important function decomposing and recycling dead matter back into the soil. Symbiotic fungi grow on living organisms, but do not damage them, whereas parasitic fungi do harm their living hosts.

Further information

Lichens - background information

A lichen is not a single organism, but a collaboration between a fungus and another organism that is able to manufacture nutrients that the fungus cannot. This association is called symbiosis, and the fungus combines with an alga or a cyanobacterium, both of which produce nutrients by photosynthesis. This combination results in a body called a thallus. Each lichen has a unique fungus, whereas some algae and cyanobacteria enter into association with many different fungi, algae being the more common partner of the two. Lichens have different properties to those of the component organisms, and many different structures and colours. Lichens grow on many types of surface, and in a variety of environmental conditions, but are nutritionally self-contained so are not parasitic. When seen growing along the branches of a tree, for example, they are simply using the tree for support. They may be found growing in some of the most extreme habitats on the planet. Their names may be misleading; ‘reindeer moss’ is a lichen, and not related to mosses, which are non-flowering plants. 

Lichens have many growth forms of the vegetative body parts, or fungal filaments, collectively called the thallus. These forms are:

  • fruticose (tiny, leafless branches)
  • foliose (flat, leaf-like structures)
  • crustose (crust-like flakes like peeling paint)
  • leprose (powdery appearance)
  • squamulose (tightly clustered, pebble-like forms)
  • filamentous (hair-like)

October 2023 Lichen survey - acknowledgements

We are grateful to Neil Sanderson and Dr. Paul Cannon of the British Lichen Society, who freely gave their time and expertise to conduct a survey of the lichens in Heene Cemetery on 9th October 2023. The species listed here was identified during this survey.