Description: This rare, crust-like species has a thallus of tiny, blue-grey to olive-grey scales (squamules) — white felted along the edges — forming small rings on trees and outcrops of vertical rock, especially in areas with relict woodland. It is usual for the thallus to be covered in violet-grey soralia (granular, like sugar), sometimes densely so. In Ireland, it is restricted to County Kerry where it grows on oak and should be looked for more widely within the county.

Key Identification Features:

• Eye-catching soralia, blue-violet on the lobes of the barely noticeable olive-grey squamules (2-3mm long)
• The soralia are often abundant, sometimes entirely covering the thallus; trees and outcrops in old, relict woodland.

Original text submitted by Vince J. Giavarini

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

iNaturalist: Fuscopannaria mediterranea at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.