Lecanora lichen help!

[diggleken]

Hi all, grateful for some help with this from yesterday please - I had it as a Pertusaria spp, but now seems like a Leconora, varia seems quite close from Mike sutcliffes fabby british lichens site.
It was showing quite greeny/grey on fallen Beech twig at about 1200ft above, in a mixed but largely deciduous wood. It was extremely wet!

Cheers
Ken

[JennyS]

Wet lichens are not good for trying to ID!
Yours is most likely Lecanora chlarotera, one of the most frequent crustose species on trees:
Lecanora chlarotera (images of British lichens)

Lecanora varia develops very distorted margins to the discs and is more usually associated with worked timber:
Lecanora varia (images of British lichens)

When identifying lichens the habitat is as relevant as the appearance as there are so many that look similar but are found on very different substrates!

[diggleken]

Originally Posted by JennyS

Wet lichens are not good for trying to ID!
Yours is most likely Lecanora chlarotera, one of the most frequent crustose species on trees:
Lecanora chlarotera (images of British lichens)

Lecanora varia develops very distorted margins to the discs and is more usually associated with worked timber:
Lecanora varia (images of British lichens)

When identifying lichens the habitat is as relevant as the appearance as there are so many that look similar but are found on very different substrates!

Thanks a lot Jenny, the green-ness had me leaning towards varia, but the images are more chlarotera, I agree.
Thanks for the links too...............
Cheers
Ken

[AlanS]

I agree that this is L. chlarotera (inasmuch as one can every be truly sure without microscopic examination of a cross-section).

To a greater or lesser extent, the algae (usually green) show through when lichens are very wet, and they can be very misleading.

Alan