Cora glabrata (Spreng.) Fr. 20081221 Parque Nacional Puyheue, Chile

This is a very cool lichen. One of the few true basidiolichens (closely related to true mushrooms as opposed to the vast majority of lichens which are related to things like cup fungi, morels, etc.) Apparently the relative quantity of algae to fungus can make a large difference in thallus structure. This particular specimen is dominated by the fungus. The hymenium, or spore-bearing surface, is smooth (hidden below). The alga is a cyanobacterium in the genus Scytonema.

Check out these links for more info (the first two) and photos:

1. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lichens". 16. (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 582 (search for "dictyonema")
2. www.amjbot.org/content/vol94/issue8/cover.shtml
3. www.fieldmuseum.org/research_collections/botany/botany_si... (search for "dictyonema" again)
4. Paul Hofmann

The scientific name has a very complicated history, presumably reflecting how complicated this organism (or more accurately, this symbiosis of two organisms) is. It has been called these (any more besides):

Cora glabrata (Spreng.) Fr. [accepted name according to Index Fungorum] Dictyonema glabratum (Spreng.) D. Hawksw. Dictyonema pavonium (Sw.) Parmasto [at least f. brasiliensis] Thelephora glabrata Spreng.