Parmotrema austrosinense
Pretty ruffle, unwhiskered ruffle lichen
You may have noticed that I have been trying to feature more southern hemisphere lichens here, partly for my own edification, but also for all y'all who live in or visit those parts of the world that have largely gone overlooked in lichen studies. Here we have a lichen that is widespread in tropical and temperate regions, including those south of the equator as the epithet would suggest. P. austrosinense is a large, foliose lichen with loose, ruffled lobes growing in patches up to 10 cm in diameter. It has crenate lobe margins with scattered to dense soredia, a smooth, gray upper surface (occasionally patchy and cracked), and a black lower surface which is mottled white-brown at the edges. It only rarely produces apothecia, which are substipate (sitting on a short stalk), and have brown, often perforate discs. P. austrosinense prefers to grow on tree bark, but as you can see from some of these pictures, will sometimes grow on rock or human-made substrates if need be.
images: source | source
info: source | source
