''Niebla josecuervoi '' is a

fruticose lichen A fruticose lichen is a form of lichen fungi that is characterized by a coral-like shrubby or bushy growth structure. It is formed from a symbiotic relationship of a photobiont such as green algae or less commonly cyanobacteria and one, two or mor ...

that grows on rock, stony soil and sand along the Pacific Coast of northern Baja California from near Misión San Vicente Ferrer to Punta Santa Rosalilillita.Spjut, R. W. 1996. ''Niebla'' and ''Vermilacinia'' (Ramalinaceae) from California and Baja California. Sida Bot. Misc. 14 The epithet, ''josecuervoi'' is in honor of a field assistant, “Jose Cuervo”.Rundel P., P. A. Bowler and T. W. Mulroy. 1972. A fog-induced lichen community in northwestern Baja California, with two new species of ''Desmazieria'' The Bryologist 75: 501–508.

Distinguishing features

''Niebla josecuervoi'' is distinguished by the

thallus Thallus (plural: thalli), from Latinized Greek (), meaning "a green shoot" or "twig", is the vegetative tissue of some organisms in diverse groups such as algae, fungi, some liverworts, lichens, and the Myxogastria. Many of these organisms wer ...

divided into linear-prismatic branches initially developing from a common attachment base (or holdfast); the outer basal branches generally creeping or ascending near the ground for some distance, central branches ascending to erect, all dividing irregularly and frequently above, bearing many short spine-like branchlets along the upper side, collectively appearing comb-like; the whole thallus to 22 cm in diameter. The species (''N. josecuervoi'') also recognized by containing

salazinic acid Salazinic acid is a depsidone with a lactone ring. It is found in some lichens, and is especially prevalent in ''Parmotrema'' and ''Bulbothrix'', where its presence or absence is often used to help classify species in those genera. History I ...

, without

triterpene Triterpenes are a class of chemical compounds composed of three terpene units with the molecular formula C30H48; they may also be thought of as consisting of six isoprene units. Animals, plants and fungi all produce triterpenes, including squale ...

s. Similar species are ''

Niebla arenaria ''Niebla arenaria'' is a fruticose lichen that grows along the Pacific Coast of North America in the fog regions of the northern peninsula of Baja California from near Colonet south to Morro Santo Domingo. The epithet, ''arenaria'', is in regard ...

'' that differs by the absence of a holdfast and by terminal short bifurcate, or antler-like, branchlets, '' Niebla effusa'' that has terminal flattened, hooked, and fringed branches, ''

Niebla flabellata ''Niebla flabellata '' is a fruticose lichen that grows on rocks along the foggy Pacific Coast of Baja California in the Northern Vizcaíno Desert, from San Fernando Canyon to the northern shore of the Vizcaíno Peninsula west to Cedros Island ...

'' that differs by the irregular-shaped branches mostly flattened above a short tubular base, ''Niebla marinii'' distinguished by the wide angled branching (horseshoe-shaped), ''Niebla limicola'' distinguished by shortly bifurcate branchlets along lower dilated branches, ''Niebla pulchribarbara'' distinguished by containing protocetraric acid instead of salazinic acid, and the acid-deficient ''

Niebla homaleoides ''Niebla homaleoides '' is a fruticose lichen that grows on rocks within a narrow region of the foggy Pacific Coast of Baja California in the Northern Vizcaíno Desert, Arroyo Sauces, Punta Cono and ridges south of Punta Negra.Spjut, R. W. 1996 ...

''.

Taxonomic history

''Niebla josecuervoi'' was first recognized by Phillip Rundel and Peter Bowler based on thalli “growing abundantly on basalt ridge of Colina del Sudoeste, Bahía de San Quintín, 28 March 1971” as a new species of ''Desmazieria'' (type specimen, salazinic acid, ''Rundel & Bowler 250'', Univ. Calif. Irvine, Fig. 3), the genus name later replaced by ''Niebla''. It was one of two new species they described for the genus, the other, ''Niebla pulchribarbara'' (as ''Desmazieria''), was distinguished by the absence of a “basal attachment plate,” and also by the absence of apothecia, while further noted in the descriptions of the two species to differ in their chemotypes, salazinic acid (''N. josecuervoi''), protocetraric acid (''N. pulchribarbara''). It was also stated that ''N. josecuervoi'' is “typically saxicolous,” whereas it was unclear whether their interpretation of the

terricolous A terricolous lichen is a lichen that grows on the soil as a substrate. An example is some members of the genus ''Peltigera ''Peltigera'' is a genus of approximately 100 species of foliose lichens in the family Peltigeraceae. Commonly known as ...

species (''N. pulchribarbara'') included thalli with salazainic acid since only ''N. josecuervoi'' was mentioned as growing on sand (less than 2%) in their data (“Table 2”) on ground coverage of lichens at the type locality. Richard Spjut, who conducted almost yearly expeditions to Baja California—two to four weeks duration—from 1985 to 1996, did not find ''Niebla'' with protocetraric acid south of Bahía de San Quintín among approximately 2,000 specimens of Niebla he analyzed by thin-layer chromatography. On 5 May 1986, Spjut, accompanied by John Cassady, Chairman of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy at Purdue University, and later Dean of the School of Pharmacy at Ohio State University, along with his graduate student, Thomas McCloud, collected a 1 kg sample of a terricolous ''Niebla'' on sandy shore of Bahía Falsa at Bahía de San Quintín. Voucher material from that sample (WBA-333;WBA is an acronym for World Botanical Associates. Plant samples collected for medicinal research were given a collector’s number for the voucher specimens, and an accession number for the samples. During May 1986, Richard Spjut collected samples of lichens for a lichen flora of Baja California, for medicinal research at Purdue University, and also of vascular plants. All voucher specimens, which in some cases represented type specimens, were deposited at the United States National Herbarium (Smithsonian Institution, Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany), identified as ''N. pulchribarbara'') was only found to have salazinic acid. All collection data were entered into database software. Plant samples at Purdue University were later transferred by Thomas McCloud to the National Cancer Institute’s Natural Products repository where included among the repository of 100,000 extracts of natural products, and which also includes all the detailed data on the field collection was later designated as type for the newly described ''Niebla arenaria'' ''Niebla josecuervoi'' as recognized by Spjut is according to the morphological and chemical description provided by Rundel and Bowler but not according their ecological data. Bowler and Janet Marsh in the Flora of the Greater Sonoran DesertBowler, P. and J. Marsh. 2004. ''Niebla''. ‘Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert 2’: 368–380. did not provide a description for ''Niebla josecuervoi'', but instead stated “see ''Niebla homalea'' for a description” with further reference to their discussion where it was concluded that only two species can be recognized—by the medulla reaction to ''para''-phenylenediamine, depsidones (pd+), depsides (pd-).; however, the acid-deficient species recognized by Spjut (''N. homaleoides'') is chemically more related to the depsidone species group. Two descriptions were provided for ''N. homalea'', one for rock forms and one for soil forms; soil forms were implicitly excluded from the nomenclature list of synonyms by stating “rock populations of ''N. homalea'' thalli have spot tests negative, except P+ (synonym ''Niebla pulchribarbara''; see ''Niebla josecuervoi''), K+ when salazinic or protocetraric acids are present (See ''Niebla josecuervoi'').” It appears that the description under ''N. homalea'' was intended for the two species, a practice that deviates from that traditionally published in floras. As was the case in the 1972 publication, the data and discussion for the soil inhabiting Nieblas in the Sonoran Desert flora are conflicting. Additionally, the distribution map shown for ''Niebla josecuervoi'' indicated only four areas of occurrences on the main peninsula of Baja California and one for Guadalupe Island; species with depsidones do not occur on Guadalupe Island. ''Niebla josecuervoi'' was recognized by Spjut as “common on lowland rocky terraces and mesas, occasional on stones of mountains ridges,” in the “Northern Vizcaíno Desert” and “transitional vegetation to California Chaparral.”

References

External links

*World Botanical Associates, ''Niebla josecuervoi'', retrieved 26 Dec 2014, http://www.worldbotanical.com/niebla_josecuervoi.htm#josecuervoi *Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert: Book Review, Richard Spjut, web page, http://www.worldbotanical.com/lichen%20flora%20review.htm {{Taxonbar, from=Q20720403 Lichen species Lichens of North America Ramalinaceae Lichens described in 1973