About Ramalina americana Hale
Ramalina americana Hale has a pale green thallus that grows from a single holdfast. It produces narrow, divided branches marked with depressions and ridges. Apothecia develop either close to the branch tips or directly on the tips. Its spores are mostly straight, and pseudocyphellae occur on the surface of the thallus. This lichen contains the lichen product usnic acid. Ramalina americana is distributed across the Midwest of the United States, southern Canada, and parts of the Eastern coastline of North America. Members of the genus Ramalina are broadly distributed and very prolific. Ramalina americana is an obligate epiphyte, growing exclusively attached to the bark of living trees. This contrasts with Ramalina siliquosa, which grows on rocks.
