Description: This is a characteristic species of short, calcareous grassland. It is minute and gristly with tiny, shiny brown, cylindrical lobes (often less than 1mm wide) when wet, and a wrinkled, cellophane-like, lobe-shrivelled thallus when dry. The entire plant could fit the space of a one cent coin.

Key Identification Features:

• The habitat, minutely shrivelled, foliose thallus and lack of abundant isidia are good pointers
• Although there are other similar black, foliose lichens, most are flattened to the substrate or much larger
• The miniscule L. teretiusculum is almost crustose with even smaller, brittle-looking lobes and is virtually invisible to the naked eye, unless abundant.

Original text submitted by Simon Davey

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

iNaturalist: Scytinium schraderi at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.