Usnea filipendula, the fishbone beard lichen, is a pale gray-green fruticose lichen with a pendant growth form, growing in up to 20 cm many-branching tassels hanging from the bark of trees. In California, it mostly grows on mostly conifer in the Coast Range, but also in the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada range.Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, It lacks apothecia. It is similar to Usnea scabrata, but is darker, has a thicker cortex, and different chemistry. Lichen spot tests are K+ red, KC−, C−, and P+ yellow.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Compounds documented for Usnea filipendula across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Usnea filipendula has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens14
Marker genes1
GenBank sequences10
eDNA detections14
Countries5
The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★ITS10
fungal barcode
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type4 667 records
Wild obs. + sensor1 704
Museum / vouchered2 942
Cultivated / captive6
Other15
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO10 924 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy70% within 1 km
≤100 m 282≤1 km 806≤10 km 447>10 km 24
1 559 georeferenced · 145 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor1 704
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy64% within 1 km
≤100 m 43≤1 km 484≤10 km 176>10 km 125
828 georeferenced · 2 114 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence2 942
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Coordinate accuracy
no georeferenced coordinates · 6 records without
Open the mapnot free-living6
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions33 of 69 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
McWane Science Centerlocation not on record
446
Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung: Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseumlocation not on record
405
Philadelphia, US
374
CJBGlocation not on record
247
St. Paul, US
241
Uppsala, SE
217
Université Lavallocation not on record
140
Vancouver, CA
113
UoB-IBlocation not on record
99
ASUlocation not on record
56
South Kensington, GB
52
València, ES
44
Chicago, US
44
ULBF-AGRlocation not on record
41
WTUlocation not on record
39
M-Lichenslocation not on record
28
US
25
ILLSlocation not on record
20
Berlin, DE
17
University of Manitobalocation not on record
13
MeiseBGlocation not on record
13
Museo Achille Folettolocation not on record
11
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
10
NMBU:MINAlocation not on record
9
Bureau of Land Management, Medford District Officelocation not on record
8
Auckland, NZ
8
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburghlocation not on record
7
Umeå Universitylocation not on record
7
GZUlocation not on record
6
New Brunswick, US
5
Acadia Universitylocation not on record
5
BClocation not on record
5
Ann Arbor, US
5
Madrid, ES
4
Arcata, US
4
Catholic University of Pekinglocation not on record
4
PHlocation not on record
4
Santa Barbara, US
4
Mexico City, MX
4
DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record
3
Barcelona, ES
3
Davis, US
3
Toronto, CA
3
Karlsruhe, DE
3
PRClocation not on record
3
San Sebastián, ES
2
Victoria, CA
2
Weber State Universitylocation not on record
2
Durham, US
2
Entomological Society of Latvialocation not on record
2
Göteborg, SE
2
Minia, EG
2
MNHWlocation not on record
2
Universidade de Lisboa, Museu Bocagelocation not on record
2
US
1
University of Western Ontariolocation not on record
1
Clocation not on record
1
EL PASO, US
1
FLASlocation not on record
1
Boise, US
1
Bozeman, US
1
Laboratorio de Ictiologialocation not on record
1
Durham, US
1
AUAlocation not on record
1
Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Researchlocation not on record
1
IFR-DNFlocation not on record
1
Madison, US
1
Burlington, US
1
Saint Louis, US
1
69 institutions · 2 835 of 2 942 vouchered records shown · 106 without an institution code
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
09Environmental DNA14 detections
Where the DNA of Usnea filipendula was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found14
Studies independent surveys1
Countries2
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 14 detections have coordinates
Open the map2 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median8.20 °C 2.20–14.1
Seasonal swing summer↔winter11.8 °C
Max temp (day)10.4 °C 3.20–16.4
Min temp (night)4.80 °C -1.10–10.0
Precipitation81.7 mm/mo 69.5–104
Air humidity64.8 % 63.3–71.9
Moisture balance14.1 mm/mo -22.4–85.5
Vapour deficit410 Pa 202–567
Wind speed4.00 m/s 3.40–5.30
Cloud cover51.9 % 49.3–56.2
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 10 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation5 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility4 667 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI14 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics14 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗