Thalloidima physaroides
Suffolk Priority Species
Thalloidima physaroides (previously Toninia physaroides) is a very rare terricolous crustose lichen of open, bare calcareous soil and chalk débris, closely associated with the distinctive open-ground lichen communities of the Breckland. It forms part of an internationally important soil-crust lichen flora largely confined in Britain to the Breckland of Suffolk and Norfolk, where the warm, dry, and continental-influenced climate supports species found nowhere else in the country. Suffolk is central to the national population, and the continued availability of open, undisturbed calcareous and sandy soil – maintained through rabbit grazing and managed disturbance – is essential to its survival alongside the wider soil-crust lichen community for which the Breckland is internationally celebrated. Image: © FloraJenensis, iNaturalist.
Find out more: iNaturalist, British Lichen Society
Suffolk’s Priority Lichen Species
Key
Listed as a conservation priority in Suffolk’s Biodiversity Action Plan.
Closely associated with Suffolk’s landscape and natural identity.
Identified as a key priority for recovery under Suffolk’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy.
Has a Species of the Month article attached.
