Description: Very rare in Ireland, P. decipiens is easily spotted lodged among Catapyrenium thalli – the lichen group with which it most often grows – owing to the pink-red colour of its otherwise brown scaly (squamulose) thallus. This species colonises mossy soils around the edge of basic and calcareous outcrops, especially where the soil is stretched due to over-steepening or slippage. Persistently black discs form around the edges of the squamules.

Key Identification Features:

• Thallus pink-red to brown; discs black forming near the edge of squamules
• On steep soily, calcareous slopes.

Original text submitted by Vince J. Giavarini

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

iNaturalist: Psora decipiens at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.