Biodiversity & Conservation

Parelle - Ochrolechia parella

Ochrolechia parella

Image Steve Trewhella - Ochrolechia parella.
Image copyright information

Distribution map

Ochrolechia parella recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Ochrolechia parella is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Ascomycota Sac fungi
Class Lecanoromycetes
Authority (Linnaeus) Massalongo, 1852
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Recorded from all coasts of Britain and Ireland. Gaps in its recorded distribution are probably due to lack of suitable substrata.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Very common on hard smooth siliceous rocks, walls and, more rarely, on trees in sunlit situations. Found at the top of the supralittoral, exposed to sea spray, and further inland.
Text page icon Description A grey to buff-grey encrusting lichen with a white edge to the margin of the thallus. The thallus is thick and warted at the centre and large, growing up to 20 cm across. The thallus may show growth rings. The fruiting bodies sit on the thallus and have thick, swollen margins the same colour as the thallus. The discs of the fruiting bodies are flesh to pink in colour with a powdery surface.
Identifying features
  • Thallus encrusting and buff to grey in colour.
  • Thallus margin (prothallus) white.
  • Fruiting bodies with thick margins and pinkish and powdery discs.
Additional information icon Additional information Up to the end of the last century, Ochrolechia parella was collected to produce the purple dye 'parelle' (Dobson, 2000).

This review can be cited as follows:

Dr Harvey Tyler-Walters 2004. Ochrolechia parella. Parelle. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 03/09/2010]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=3933>