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TORREYA 



Vol. 39 March-April. 1939 No. 2 





Guide to the Lichens of the New York Area 

 G. G. Nearing 



Based on what they look like. Botanists may continue 

 for a long time debating what lichens are, but their 

 appearance is not subject to debate, and is therefore 

 a good, practical basis for identification. 



Group 1. Stalked Lichens, much of which are not supported on 

 the stalks, but spread around their base, as either a crust or 

 a mat of leaf-like flakes, from which the stalks spring. 

 (Mostly Cladoniae, to which Torreya has already published 

 a key.) 



Group 2. Stalked Lichens growing on the ground as bushy tufts, 

 with all of the lichen that is plainly visible supported on the 

 stalks. (Mostly Cladoniae, to which Torreya has already 

 published a key.) 



Group 3. Stalked Lichens altogether supported on the stalks, 

 growing nearly always on trees or wood, as upright, bushy, 

 or hanging, beard-like tufts. 



The Usneas 



When Longfellow wrote of "the murmuring pines and the 

 hemlocks bearded with moss," the moss he referred to was 

 largely not moss in the botanical sense, but lichens of different 

 species, including Usnea, Alectoria, Ramalia. Not only in the 

 north woods, but in our own mountains, in our bogs and coastal 

 swamps, we find Usnea here and there on the trunks and 

 branches of trees, sometimes high up, but usually not above the 

 limits of frequent fog. While many species have been named, 

 these do not divide sharply, and it is convenient for the average 

 botanist to recognize only certain distinct types by name, leav- 

 ing less well marked forms to the specialist. 



Usnea florida (L.). Flowering Lichen 



The tufts of Ustiea florida, in contrast to most of the Usneas 



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