Tapered matchstick lichen is a tiny lichen that grows on shaded rocks and boulders in the conifer forests of the Cascades. From a dark, brownish to olive green crust on the rock rise short, unbranched stalks, each topped with an elongated black tip. Together they look like a scattering of burnt matches poking out of the stone, which explains the common name.
Like every lichen, it is a partnership between a fungus and a photosynthetic partner, an alga or cyanobacterium that makes food for the pair. The fungus shapes the lichen’s body and its fruiting bodies, which here are the black tips on the stalks. This is a North Pacific species, known along the west coast of North America from Alaska and British Columbia to northern Oregon, and also in Japan.
Herbarium collections place it in Mt. Hood National Forest, including on basalt at Wapinitia Pass in mountain fir and hemlock forest, along the road to Bull Run Lake and on a trailside boulder on Larch Mountain. Elsewhere in the Oregon and Washington Cascades it has been collected on volcanic rock in old-growth forest, on lava flows and in boulder fields.
Look for it on rock outcrops and boulders along shady trails. A hand lens helps, since the stalks are well under an inch tall.
How to identify it
A dark brownish to olive green crust on rock, sprouting erect, unbranched stalks up to about three-quarters of an inch tall. Each stalk ends in an elongated black tip, the fruiting body.
Look-alikes
Devil's matchstick (Pilophorus acicularis) also grows on rock west of the Cascades, but its crust is pale gray-green and granular, its stalks can be a little taller, and each ends in a small black knob rather than an elongated tip. Separating them reliably can take a close look.
Habitat
Rock in shade or partial shade: boulders, outcrops, cliffs and lava in moist conifer forests, often on basalt. Mt. Hood area collections include one at about 3,900 feet at Wapinitia Pass.
Sightings in the forest
100 research-grade sightings in Mt. Hood National Forest on iNaturalist, most recently on October 2, 2026. See them on iNaturalist →