Xanthoparmelia loxodes (Nyl.) O. Blanco

    Thallus foliose,  wide-spreading, to 20 cm diam., made of lobes ± loosely appressed; lobes 2-5 mm wide, apices straight to slightly rounded, upper surface bright, uneven, frequently ± transversely wrinkled, pale brown-yellowish, grey-brown to brown when dry, brown-green when moist, lower surface black, rhizines simple. Upper surface, notably towards the center, covered with globose to cylindrical isidia, up to 1 mm tall, concolourous, but the top is paler; when numerous, isidia are clustered in coarse, pustulate outgrowths, erupting into ± sessile, cauliflower-like or 'daisy heart-like' outgrowths. Often fertile, apothecia ± distorded, 0.3-0.8 mm diam., disc flat, dark brown-red, exciple concolourous, sinuous and pleated, often isidiate. Ascospores simple, ellipsoid, 8-10 x 4-5 µm. Photobiont: Trebouxia. Cortex : K-, Medullae : C +/- red, K -, KC+ red-orange, Pd-. On coastal siliceous rocks, xeric-supralittoral and in aerohaline zone, rarer inland. N.B. Amongst colonies of this species, specimen with little or no isidia may frequently be observed; in this case they are assigned -without much confidence- to Xanthoparmelia delisei.*