Tartarean Moss

Ochrolechia tartarea is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling) crustose lichen in the family Ochrolechiaceae. It forms thick, greyish crusts with a rough, crumbly surface marked by irregular warts, typically found on acidic rocks in moist, upland environments across Europe and parts of Asia. The lichen produces distinctive reproductive structures (apothecia) that appear as rounded, pale brown to orange-pink discs up to 5 mm across, often densely packed across its surface. Originally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753...