Galapagos Species Database

The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.

Collema furfuraceum Du Rietz

gelatina negra de liquen, Blistered black jelly lichen

Thallus black to brownish black when dry, deep black when wet, foliose, adnate, moderately thick; outline orbicular; lobes distinct, broad; surface with conspicuous, broad pustules and lengthwise folds (ridges); isidia numerous, abundant, on ridges and pustules, rarely marginal, initially globular but soon becoming cylindrical, mostly simple, but occasionally branched with age, concolorous or darker than the thallus; apothecia not seen (Galapagos specimens).

Collema furfuraceum is easily recognized by its deep black to brownish black color and the pustulate, ridged, densely isidiate surface.

Taxonomy

Domain
Eukaryota

Kingdom
Fungi

Phylum
Ascomycota

Class
Lecanoromycetes

Order
Peltigerales

Family
Collemataceae

Genus
Collema

Species
furfuraceum

Taxon category: Accepted

Origin: Native

Status

Least concern

Distribution

Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.

Distribution: A very common element of the dry lowlands, on a variety of trees or shrubs like Bursera graveolens, Accacia rorudiana, or Opuntia ssp., occasionally also found in the transition zone, on Zanthoxylum fagara, Psidium galapageium, Pisonia floribunda, etc.; not found in the moist uplands.

References

  • Bungartz, F. (2008) Cyanolichens of the Galapagos Islands - The genera Collema and Leptogium. Sauteria 15: 139-158.
  • Elix, J.A. McCarthy, P.M. (1998) Catalogue of the Lichens of the Smaller Pacific Islands. Bibliotheca Lichenologica 70, J. Cramer, Berlin, Stuttgart, 361pp.
  • Weber, W.A. (1986) The Lichen Flora of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Mycotaxon 27: 451-497.

You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.

This page should be cited as follows:

"Galapagos Species Database, Collema furfuraceum", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=2565. Accessed 24 April 2026.