Description: This tiny, crustose epiphyte grows well on elder twigs, on elm and sycamore in sheltered situations. Find it on elder first so you might know it again. The thin, grey-brown thallus forms miniscule patches (less than 5mm wide) with irregularly rounded discs (to 0.3mm diam.) which resemble specks of black jelly. A microscope squash shows peg-shaped, one-septate spores (8-12 x 2.5-4.0µm). Thinly scattered in Ireland, scarce in the south-west.

Key Identification Features:

• A microlichen, most commonly seen on elder twigs
• In the field it can look like a speck of twig dirt; spores one-septate, peg-shaped.

Original text submitted by Vince J. Giavarini

Distribution Map from NBN: Bryostigma lapidicola at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Bryostigma lapidicola at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.