{{Short description|Single-species genus of lichen}} {{Use American English|date=December 2021}} {{Speciesbox | image = Esslingeriana idahoensis - Flickr - pellaea.jpg | image_caption = ''E. idahoensis'' in Castle Crags, California | status = G5 | status_system = TNC | status_ref = <ref name=NS>{{cite NatureServe |id=2.123993 |title=''Esslingeriana idahoensis'' |access-date=12 September 2025}}</ref> | parent_authority = Hale & M.J.Lai (1980) | taxon = Esslingeriana idahoensis | authority = (Essl.) Hale & M.J.Lai (1980) }}

'''''Esslingeriana''''' is a fungal genus in the family Parmeliaceae. The genus is monotypic, containing the single foliose lichen species '''''Esslingeriana idahoensis''''', commonly known as the '''tinted rag lichen'''.<ref name="Brodo et al. 2001"/> It is found in northwestern North America.

==Systematics==

''Esslingeriana idahoensis'' was originally described by Theodore Esslinger in 1971 as a member of genus ''Cetraria''. He collected the type specimen from Mount Spokane State Park (Spokane County, Washington). Widely distributed in northwestern North America, ''E.&nbsp;idahoensis'' is named for its abundance in the douglas fir forests of the northern Idaho.<ref name="Esslinger 1971"/>

Genus ''Esslingeriana'' was circumscribed in 1980 by lichenologists Mason Hale and Ming-Jou Lai.<ref name="Lai 1980"/> Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that ''Esslingeriana'' is in the cetrarioid clade of the Parmeliaceae. Cetrarioid lichens are those that are erect, foliose (leafy), and with apothecia and pycnidia (sexual and asexual reproductive structures, respectively) that are largely restricted to the margins of the lobes. ''Esslingeriana'', along with the genera ''Dactylina'' and ''Melanelia'', are the earliest-diverging members of the cetrarioid clade.<ref name="Thell et al. 2012"/>

==Description== ''Esslingeriana idahoensis'' is a pale gray (sometimes with a yellowish tint), foliose (leafy) lichen that is loosely attached to its substrate. The thallus comprises individual elongated lobes measuring {{convert|1.5|–|5|mm|in|abbr=on|2}} wide. The thallus surface lacks isidia, soredia, and pseudocyphellae. The lower thallus surface is black and wrinkled, with sparse and scattered, unbranched rhizines that function as holdfasts to attach the thallus to the substrate. Ascomata are in the form of large brown apothecia, typically located at the tips of the lobes.<ref name="Brodo et al. 2001"/>

The expected results of standard chemical spot tests in the cortex are PD+ (pale yellow), K+ (yellow), KC−, and C−; in the medulla they are PD−, K+ (purplish pink), KC−, and C−. ''Esslingeriana idahoensis'' contains the secondary chemicals atranorin and endocrocin.<ref name="Brodo et al. 2001"/>

==References== {{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="Brodo et al. 2001">{{cite book |first1=Irwin M. |last1=Brodo |first2=Sylvia Duran |last2=Sharnoff |first3=Stephen |last3=Sharnoff |title=Lichens of North America |year=2001 |publisher=Yale University Press |page=310 |isbn=978-0-300-08249-4}}</ref>

<ref name="Esslinger 1971">{{cite journal |last1=Esslinger |first1=Theodore L. |year=1971 |title=''Cetraria idahoensis'', a new species of lichen endemic to western North America |journal=The Bryologist |volume=74 |issue=3 |pages=364–369 |doi=10.2307/3241644 |jstor=3241644}}</ref>

<ref name="Lai 1980">{{cite journal |last1=Lai |first1=Ming Jou |year=1980 |title=Studies on the cetrarioid lichens in Parmeliaceae of east Asia (1) |journal=Quarterly Journal of the Taiwan Museum |volume=33 |issue=3–4 |pages=215–229}}</ref>

<ref name="Thell et al. 2012">{{cite journal |last=Thell |first=Arne |last2=Crespo |first2=Ana |last3=Divakar |first3=Pradeep K. |last4=Kärnefelt |first4=Ingvar |last5=Leavitt |first5=Steven D. |last6=Lumbsch |first6=H. Thorsten |last7=Seaward |first7=Mark R. D. |title=A review of the lichen family Parmeliaceae – history, phylogeny and current taxonomy |journal=Nordic Journal of Botany |volume=30 |issue=6 |year=2012 |doi=10.1111/j.1756-1051.2012.00008.x |pages=641–664}}</ref>

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Category:Parmeliaceae Category:Monotypic Lecanorales genera Category:Lichen genera Category:Taxa named by Mason Hale Category:Taxa described in 1980 Category:Fungi without expected TNC conservation status