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C. timucua was last collected and misidentified back then. Scientists are calling on people to photograph the lichen and upload their results to the Timucua Heart Lichen Project.
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The next time you are walking through the pine scrub forests surrounding our area, take a look at what’s clinging to the tree. Collectors are hopeful a rare type of lichen that could have gone extinct may still be in the woods.
E-Mail IMAGE: The only records of the newly-identified lichen Cora timucua are 32 specimens in museum collections collected in Florida between 1885 and 1985. Up to 90% of its native pine scrub... view more Credit: Robert Lücking GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Scientists have found a new species of fleshy verdigris lichen, thanks to DNA analysis of museum specimens. Misidentified by its original collectors, the lichen is only known from 32 specimens collected in North and Central Florida scrubland between 1885 and 1985. Now the hunt is on to find it in the wild - if it still exists. The l...