Ramalina peruviana
Quipu lichen, Peruvian ribbon lichen
This fruticose lichen has many thin, flattened branches and tiny, isidiate branchlets growing out of lateral soredia and branch tips. The surface is pale gray-green interrupted by ellipsoidal or linear pseudocyphellae and punctiform soralia. It only rarely produces apothecia. R. peruviana grows on bark and occasionally rock in tropical and costal regions worldwide. So why is it named R. peruviana? Well, the type specimen used by Erik Acharius to describe the species was found in Peru. What's a type specimen, you may ask? Well when you describe a species, you need to have one specimen of that organism from which characteristics and features of the species description are drawn, and it needs to be stored in a collection where it can be accessed to compare characteristics and potentially DNA with future potential specimens. So even though this entire species grows all over the place and isn't only found in Peru, the name is a nod to the specimen which set the standard for the entire species name. It's pretty weird to think about using one individual as the standard when we know so much physical variation exists between members of the same species, right?