Type. SWEDEN. VÄSTERGÖTLAND. Habo, St. Kärr, on old Fagus in a shady place, 1923, G.O. Malme s.n. (S - not seen, possibly lost Coppins and James, 1979).
Rinodina hueana (Harm.) H. Olivier, Bull. Acad. Inter. Géogr. Bot. 15: 211 (1905) - non R. hueana Vain., Hedwigia 38: 88 (1898). Basionym. Lecanora hueana Harm., Bull. Soc. Sci. Nancy, Ser. 2, 15: 195 (1898) - Type. [FRANCE]. VOSGES. en montant au Ballon d’Alsace depuis Saint Maurice, sur boleau, s.d. J. Harmand s.n. (not seen).
Description.Thallus thin, dark grey, greenish‑brown or brown, sometimes yellowish, areolate; areoles discrete, irregular, rarely becoming contiguous, to 0.25‑0.80(1.20) mm wide, becoming raised at the margins (subsquamulose); surface plane, quickly becoming rugose and granular, matt; margin indeterminate; prothallus absent; vegetative propagules present; soredia developing from areole margins (but not labriform) and surface, other soredia developing from break up of consoredia, 15-30 µm in diam., soredia spreading to form discrete, plane or somewhat convex soralia, the same colour as the thallus or lighter, often greenish in dark thalli, or yellowish, rarely covering most of thallus. Apothecia narrowly attached, sparse or more usually absent, to 0.30-0.80 mm in diam.; disc mostly plane, convex in largest apothecia, dark brown to black; thalline margin concolourous with thallus, ca. 0.10 mm wide, partly excluded when disc convex, or incompletely formed, then with a prominent proper margin; excipular ring usually present, confluent. Apothecial Anatomy. Thalline exciple 50‑70 µm wide laterally; cortex 5‑10 µm wide; epinecral layer ca. 10 µm wide; crystals present in cortex and medulla; cortical cells to 4.0‑5.0 µm wide, not pigmented; algal cells to 11.0‑15.5 µm long; thalline exciple 50‑110 µm below; cortex to 10‑40(‑80) µm, intricate; proper exciple hyaline, 5-10 µm wide laterally, to 20‑35 µm above, or 40‑60 µm laterally, 70‑90 µm below when thalline exciple absent, then brownish; hypothecium colourless, 80‑120 µm deep; hymenium 70‑90 µm high, not inspersed; paraphyses 2.0‑3.0 µm wide, not conglutinate, richly branched near apices, with apices to 3.0‑5.0 µm wide, lightly pigmented, immersed in dispersed pigment forming a red‑brown epihymenium; asci 50‑70 x 17‑19 µm. Ascospores 8/ascus, Type A development, Physcia‑type, (13.5-)17.5‑18.0(-22.0) x (7.5-)9.5‑10.0(-12.0) µm, average l/b ratio 1.8-1.9, lumina sometimes inflating to fill cells (Physconia-like) and spores becoming constricted, torus well developed; walls ornamented or not. Pycnidia immersed, ostioles brown; conidiophores Type I; conidia bacilliform, 3.5-5.0 x ca. 1.0 µm.
Substrate and Ecology. Corticolous and sometimes on mosses and macrolichens (e.g. Parmelia sulcata). Collected on Abies balsamea, Acer rubrum, A. saccharum, Alnus incana, A. rubra, Populus tremuloides, Quercus rubra, Q. hypoleucoides, Salix and Thuja. It has been recorded with Rinodina degeliana, R. excrescens, R. oleae and R. pachysperma.
Distribution. A Vancouverian-eastern North America disjunct with a coastal distribution from Washington to Alaska and southern outliers in Arizona and North Carolina. Widely distributed in Europe (Mayrhofer & Moberg 2002).
Notes.Rinodina efflorescens is a sorediate species characterized by its greenish-brown, sometimes yellowish, thallus with pannarin present. When fertile it has medium sized Physcia-type or Physconia-like spores. It may be a much overlooked species in northeastern and northwestern North America because of its frequent sterile condition. North American specimens are often lighter in colour than European material studied and rarely possess soralia with a much lighter colour than the thallus in their central parts as described by Coppins and James (1979), and then only in the best developed collections. A yellow pigment, secalonic acid A, is often not visible to the eye and may sometimes be lacking or undetectable by TLC. The presence of Pd+ crystals in the epihymenium (presumably pannarin), reported by Giralt (2001) and Mayrhofer and Moberg (2002), has not been noted in the fertile specimens examined from North America.
Another species with discrete soralia is R. degeliana (= Rinodina subpariata). It also has Physcia-type spores but is characterized by the presence of atranorin rather than pannarin, and at least initially by whitish, marginal labriform soralia. Rinodina efflorescens is difficult to distinguish from R. willeyii in the sterile state because of the similarity of thallus morphology and chemistry. The darker thallus, more discrete, often convex, soralia and the presence of the pigment, secalonic acid A in R. efflorescens are the most useful characters although the pigment may occasionally be absent as noted above. In the fertile state, R. efflorescens possesses significantly smaller, although variably sized, spores than those of R. willeyii which belong to Pachysporaria-type I.
Specimens examined. CANADA. BRITISH COLUMBIA. N Whistler, T. Tønsberg 12792a; Paradise Valley, T. Tønsberg 12935; S. Whistler, T. Tønsberg 12748; W Upper Arrow Lake, T. Tønsberg 26351 (all BG); Wells Gray Prov. Park, Blackwater Creek, T. Goward 1191 (personal herb.). NEW BRUNSWICK. Albert Co., Fundy Nat. Park, E. Serusiaux 10209; Kent Co., Kouchibouguac Nat. Park, E. Serusiaux 10195; ONTARIO. Gloucester Co., Albion/Leitrim road intersection, P.Y. Wong 4525; Peterborough Co., Petroglyphs Park, P.Y. Wong 3663; Renfrew Co., Kennellys Mountain, P.Y. Wong 3913. QUEBEC. Gatineau Co., 7.5 km W Poltimore, I.M. Brodo 24969b; Pontiac Co., Lac La Peche, I.M. Brodo 24998 (all CANL). U.S.A. ALASKA. Mitkof Island, T. Tønsberg 30250; Juneau Borough, Auke Bay, T. Tønsberg 16299a; Kodiak Island Borough, Red Cloud River, T. Tønsberg 15261 (all BG). ARIZONA. Cochise Co., Chiricahua Mountains, T.H. Nash 41749 (ASU). MAINE. Washington Co., Trail to Lead Mountain, B. Hodkinson 163 (Williston personal herb.). MICHIGAN. Cheboygan Co., 6 mi N Wolverine, S.C. Wang 1211; Chippewa Co., Caribou Lake, J. Malachowski 1445a; Crawford Co., 7 mi S Grayling, S.C. Wang 762 (all MSC); Emmet Co., Harwood swamp, R.C. Harris 8874 (UMBS); Houghton Co., near Baltic, C.M. Wetmore 1392; Mackinac Co., Little Brevort Lake, S.C. Wang 1464a; Roscommon Co., 6 mi S Prudenville, S.C. Wang 790 (all MSC). MINNESOTA. Koochiching Co., Black Bay, C.M. Wetmore 37322; Lake Co., Denley Lake, C.M. Wetmore 27012; Pine Co., 2.5 mi W Rutledge, J.P. Schuster 1985; St. Louis Co., 11 mi SE Aurora, C.M. Wetmore 30819; Idington Station, C.M. Wetmore 87341; Sand Point Lake, C.M. Wetmore 35363; Sullivan Bay, C.M. Wetmore 33821 (all MIN). NEW YORK. Essex Co., NE Heart Lake, J.C. Lendemer 3085 (personal herb.); Warren Co., Riparius, T. Tønsberg 17847 (BG). NORTH CAROLINA. Transylvania Co., Gorges State Park, J.C. Lendemer 4722. PENNSYLVANIA. Carbon Co., Lehigh Gorge Sate Park, J.C. Lendemer 1461b (both personal herb.). WASHINGTON. Pierce Co., Alder Lake, T. Tønsberg 12957; Skagit Co., E Rockport, T. Tønsberg 18509 (both BG). WISCONSIN. Bayfield Co., Beaver Lake, C.M. Wetmore 71355; NW Wabigon Lake, C.M. Wetmore 70468; Rainbow Lake Wilderness, C.M. Wetmore 70552, 71157 (all MIN); Vilas Co., Eagle River, J.W. Thomson 2130 (WIS).
Selected References. Magnusson (1947a), Harris (1977 Fig. 161 as Rinodina sp. #1), Coppins & James (1979), Brodo (1988 as R. farinosa, unpublished name), Fox & Purvis (1992), Tønsberg (1992), Giralt et al. (1995, Figs. 3A, 4A-B), Sheard (1995), Elix & Tønsberg (1999), Giralt (2001 Plate XV: A), Mayrhofer & Moberg (2002 p. 102), Thomson (2003).
Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bungartz, F., (eds.) 2007. Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 3.
Thallus: thin, light to darker grey or greenish-brown, areolate, areoles discrete, irregular, rarely becoming contiguous, up to 0.25-0.60 mm wide, becoming raised at the margins (subsquamulose); surface: plane, quickly becoming rugose or granular, matt; margin: indeterminate, lacking prothallus sorediate: soredia developing from areole margins, other soredia developing from break-up of granules to form discrete, plane or somewhat convex soralia, the same color as the thallus or lighter, often pale green, in dark thalli Apothecia: sessile, sparse, more usually absent, up to 0.60-0.70 mm in diam.; disc: persistently plane, dark brown to black; thalline margin: concolorous with thallus, c. 0.10 mm wide, or thalline margin: incompletely formed, then with a prominent proper margin; excipular ring: usually present, confluent thalline exciple: up to 50-70 µm wide laterally; cortex: 5-10 µm wide, cellular; cortical cells: up to 4-5 µm wide, not pigmented; algal cells: up to 11.5-15.5 µm in diam.; thalline exciple: 50-110 µm below; cortex: to (10-)40-80 µm, intricate proper exciple: hyaline, c. 10 µm wide laterally, up to 25-35 µm above, or 40-60 µm laterally, 70-90 µm below when thalline margin absent, then brownish; hymenium: 70-90 µm tall, not inspersed; paraphyses: 2-3 µm wide, not conglutinate, richly branched near apices, with apices up to 3-5 µm wide, lightly pigmented, immersed in dispersed pigment forming a red-brown epihymenium; hypothecium: colorless, 100-120 µm deep; asci: clavate, 50-70 x 17-19 µm, 8-spored ascospores: broadly ellipsoid, brown, 1-septate, type A development, Physcia-type, (14.5-)17.5-19(-22) x (8-)9.5-10.5(-12) µm, lumina becoming irregular, rarely inflating to fill cells (Physconia-type); torus: well developed; walls: not ornamented Pycnidia: immersed, ostioles brown; conidiophores: Type I; conidia: bacilliform, 3.5-5 x c. 1 µm Spot tests: K-, C-, KC- P+ cinnabar Secondary metabolites: pannarin, zeorin, and secalonic acid A. Substrate and ecology: on bark, recorded from Quercus hypoleucoides at 2000 m. World distribution: widely distributed in Europe and scattered in eastern North America, also known from Washington and British Columbia Sonoran distribution: a single record from the Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona. Notes: Rinodina efflorescens could only be confused with R. perreagens in the study area since both species are characterized by the presence of pannarin. However, the species are easily separated by the discrete soralia and Physcia-type spores of R. efflorescens, in comparison to the diffusely sorediate thallus and larger, Pachysporaria-type spores of R. perreagens. The only other sorediate species from the region, R. griseosoralifera, also has discrete sora-The reported specimen is unusual in lacking the pigment, lia but possesses atranorin and Pachysporaria-type spores. secalonic acid A.