Calicium viride, commonly known as the green stubble lichen, is a species of pin lichen in the family Caliciaceae, and the type species of the genus Calicium. It is a common and widely distributed species in temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere and southern South America.
It was described as a new species by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon in 1794.[1] Calcium viride is the type species of the genus Calicium. The common name for the lichen in North America is "green stubble lichen".[2]
The Calicium viride group is the name of a clade of closely related species that all have ascomata supported on relatively large and sturdy stalks, and spores with a distinctive spiral ornamentation. This group also includes C. corynellum, C. salicinum, and C. quercinum, as well as Cyphelium lecideinum, which lacks a stalk but also has spiral-striated spores.[3]
Calicium viride has a greenish-yellow thallus with a granular texture that grows as a crust on the surface of its substrate. The small black stalks, 1.5–2.5 mm long and roughly 0.1–0.15 mm thick, support the spore-bearing structures: at the tip of each stalk is a capitulum–a spherical apothecium. The capitula are black with a brownish underside.[2]
Calicium corynellum is a rarer species that is somewhat similar in appearance to C. viride, but it grows on rock instead of wood or bark, and it has shorter stalks, typically 0.5–0.6 mm long.[4]
It contains the secondary chemicals rhizocarpic acid and epanorin.[2]
The lichen is common on the bark and wood of conifer trees in montane forests, but sometimes grows on deciduous trees.[2]
Calicium viride, commonly known as the green stubble lichen, is a species of pin lichen in the family Caliciaceae, and the type species of the genus Calicium. It is a common and widely distributed species in temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere and southern South America.
