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Cornish Red Data (2009)

The descriptive text, below the map, is from the Cornish Red Data Book (2009). The map on this web page depicts the organisms distribution and shows the records made pre-2000 and those made since.

Arthonia atlantica - a lichen



Range & Status

A possibly endemic lichen found on hard, siliceaous rock in dry overhangs near the coast. A component lichen of the Sclerophytetum circumscriptae community which is possibly better developed in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly than anywhere else in Britain and which is found widely on granite, basalt, gabbro, schist and serpentine. A. atlantica has been recorded from only 13 10km squares nationally and is confined to the western counties from Somerset west to Cornwall and north to Coll. To date it has been recorded from eight or nine localities on the Lizard and is particularly abundant on one rock outcrop north of Black Head on the east of the Peninsula. It has also very recently been recorded from underhangs of basaltic rock on Pentire Head on the north Cornwall coast and also at Gurnard' s Head in West Penwith.

Source:

I.J. Bennallick, S. Board, C.N. French, P.A. Gainey, C. Neil, R. Parslow, A. Spalding and P.E. Tompsett. eds. 2009. Red Data Book for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. 2nd Edition.Croceago Press.

The Cornish Red Data Book Project was led by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Federation for Biological Recorders (CISFBR). The full text and species accounts (minus the maps) are available on the CISFBR website.