The Parmeliaceae is a large and diverse family of Lecanoromycetes. With over 2700 species in 71 genera, it is the largest family of lichen-forming fungi. The most speciose genera in the family are the well-known groups: Xanthoparmelia, Usnea, Parmotrema, and Hypotrachyna.
Parmeliaceae
Menegazzia pertransita growing on a tree in New Zealand. Scale bar = 1 cm.
Cetraria nivalis from Austria.
Parmelia sulcata from Commanster, Belgium.
A lichen is a symbiosis of algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species, along with a yeast embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualistic relationship. Lichens are important actors in nutrient cycling and act as producers which many higher trophic feeders feed on, such as reindeer, gastropods, nematodes, mites, and springtails. Lichens have properties different from those of their component organisms. They come in many colors, sizes, and forms and are sometimes plant-like, but are not plants. They may have tiny, leafless branches (fruticose); flat leaf-like structures (foliose); grow crust-like, adhering tightly to a surface (substrate) like a thick coat of paint (crustose); have a powder-like appearance (leprose); or other growth forms.
A tree covered with leafy foliose lichens and shrubby fruticose lichens
Letharia vulpina, wolf lichen, grows like a multiple-branched tuft or leafless mini-shrub, so it has a fruticose growth form.
Flavoparmelia caperata has leaf-like structures, so it is foliose.
Caloplaca marina grows like an orange crust coating the rock, so it is crustose.
