Endocarpon adscendens

The thallus consists of small (0.3-1.5mm) elongate to rounded beige or greenish brown squamules that often overlap. The black tips of one or two buried perithecia can often be seen protruding from the centre of the lobes. Tiny hyphae attach it to the substrate (unlike the well developed blackish rhizines of the similar E. pusillum). Microscopic examination is required to confirm the genus and separate it from superficially similar genera such as Catapyrenium, Dermatocarpon and Placidiopsis. In Endocarpon spp. algae are present amongst the asci in the perithecia.
Three species of this genus are reported from Britain. All are rare and somewhat difficult to differentiate. Expert help should be sought. Some doubt still attaches to the identity of the Welsh material as a different species is reported from rivers in Europe (A. Orange pers comm). Both E. adscendens and E. pusillum are reported from Wales (A. Orange pers comm and report to CCW entitled "A Baseline Survey of Rare Lichen Species in South Area" by AO (1997)). E. pusillum is known from a railway cutting on limestone near Bridgend and elsewhere from Devon, Dorset and Yorkshire. E. pallidulum, a lichen of greensand walls and damp limestone with smaller spores than E. adscendens is only known from Dorset.