Tiny Button Lichen

Amandinea punctata (tiny button lichen) is a crustose brown to gray lichen that grows on wood and rock around the world. It grows on, not in the wood (epiphytic). It prefers bark that is acidic. In California, it is among the most common crustose lichens occurring on trees. Sometimes its thallus is absent, and branches may be covered in its lecideine apothecia. Because of its tolerance of low humidity, it is one of the few epiphytic lichens growing on trees in California deserts, where it commonly grows on the old, dry wood of junipers, and sometimes fallen pinyon pines and oaks, or on their dead branches.

From Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Is it poisonous?

We have no record of Tiny Button Lichen being toxic, poisonous or venomous. That is not proof that it is safe. Never eat, touch or handle a wild plant, mushroom or animal on the strength of an identification; ask someone qualified.

Easily confused with

• Catillaria nigroclavata
• Lecidella elaeochroma
• Amandinea polyspora
• Buellia erubescens
• Lecania naegelii
• Woessia egenula

Classification

Kingdom

Fungi

Phylum

Ascomycota

Class

Lecanoromycetes

Order

Caliciales

Family

Caliciaceae

Genus

Amandinea

Species

Amandinea punctata

More species