Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bungartz, F., (eds.) 2002. Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 1.

Life habit: lichenized Thallus: foliose (rarely dwarf-fruticose), heteromerous, up to 0.23 mm thick, rosette-shaped, roughly circular in outline, 1-8 (-15) cm in diam., tightly to loosely adnate, lobate lobes: narrow, linear and stellate-radiating or broad-lobed and flabellate or cuneate (rarely terete), contiguous to imbricate or well separated, rarely branched or strongly dichotomously branched, usually flat but in one species terete; apices: usually rotund or ± truncate; margin: often deflexed (in broad lobed species) upper surface: light to dark gray, slate blue, or rarely yellow or yellowish gray (non-Sonoran species), smooth but in larger species often with concentric, curved ridges, with or without pruina, isidia or laciniae; soredia and pseudocyphellae: absent upper cortex: paraplectenchymatous, with periclinal hyphae running along the length of the lobes, colorless or rarely yellow; pored epicortex: usually present medulla: white, pale yellow or rarely orange-red photobiont: primary one a filiform cyanobacterium (Scytonema), secondary photobiont absent lower cortex: usually present, paraplectenchymatous, composed of periclinal hyphae running in the length direction of the lobes, often merging gradually with the medulla lower surface: yellowish white to pale tan to black, rhizinate; rhizines: white to gray or blue to black, simple, often projecting beyond the margin, usually dense, often forming a hypothallus, rarely sparse Ascomata: apothecial, biatorine (or lecideine), gymnocarpous, adnate or sessile; margin: sometimes with white hairs; disc: carneous to reddish or blackish brown or black, usually ± convex; hymenium: hyaline, I+ deep blue; paraphyses: simple or sparsely branched, septate asci: cylindrical or clavate, with apically thickened wall (I+ blue), 8-spored ascospores: globose or ellipsoid to fusiform, hyaline, simple, often with two oil droplets Conidiomata: pycnidial, laminal or marginal, immersed or sessile conidia: rod-shaped or bacilliform, simple, colorless, 3-6 x 1-1.5 µm Secondary metabolites: usually absent, but fallacinals, lichexanthones and unknowns occasionally present (non-Sonoran species) Geography: pantropical and subtropical, rarely extending into moist temperate areas Substrate: mostly on trees but also on rocks and soil (three species are folicolous). Notes: Coccocarpia was placed in a family of its own by Henssen (1963a), based on the unique ontogeny of the ascocarps. Here apothecial primordia with upright ascogones (and often with projecting trichogynes) are formed in a paraplectenchyma of isodiametric cells. Coccocarpiaceae contain four genera, viz. Coccocarpia, Peltularia, Spilonema and Steinera. The thallus of Degelia species (Pannariaceae) is very similar to that of Coccocarpia.