Rare lichen found in Wales
9 February 2012
A lichen found in only a handful of locations in the British Isles has turned up on a tree in Powys - the first time it has been found in Wales.
Conservationists in Wales discovered a specimen of Enterographa sorediata growing on a mature oak tree in one of the country's most ancient woodlands at Gregynog Hall, near Newtown. Looking like a grey crust on the bark of the tree, the lichen has a floury, granulated surface with distinctive black scribble-like fruits underneath.
The team confirmed its identity by applying a chemical, making it turn an intense red brown – a quality unique to this species. Enterographa sorediata has previously only been found in the New Forest in Hampshire and a handful of other sites in the Southwest and Ireland, as well as on a tree in Norfolk.
'Wales is globally important for lichens because of our mild, damp climate, amazingly varied landscape and lots of wonderful and internationally rare, veteran trees,' said Ray Woods, of plant conservation charity Plantlife. 'New discoveries like this only add to how special this country is for these extraordinary organisms.'
The lichen is already a priority species under the UK's Biodiversity Action Plan and will now go onto Plantlife's Lichen Red Data List for Wales, which identifies species at risk and how they should be protected.