Saturday 30 March 2019

I like Lichens

But I don't lick lichen!
It is all in the pronunciation....
anyway.... no matter how you say it...
lichens, and mosses for that matter...are a lovely macro photography subject.
These are just a few from here.... and there....

 Physcia leptalea Lichen.... with thanks to Susan Walter for the ID


Lichens are first colonisers... the mix of fungus and algae allow them to get a foothold on bare rock....


This is one of the so called "Stag's Horn" lichens... along with a yellow Xanthoria species or similar.


Physcia leptalea Lichen.... along with another type of Xanthoria species or similar



Also, lichens look different in dry or wet conditions.... this, and the following one are one and the same....
a Lecanora species... this is when it was wet


... and this after it had dried out!


These are more "Stag's Horn" lichen... taken looking up a tree in the Brenne


And this is perhaps one of the best known types.... "Pixies' Caps"... a Cladonia species..
but, when you start looking....
you will realise that the Cladonia group has more than one species that can be called "Pixies' Caps"
Here it is growing amongst a Polytricum species moss

This is another Xanthoria species or similar lichen, growing with moss... possibly a Hypnum species.
Where lichens lead, mosses follow!
And, if it is damp enough.... along with the mosses, come Liverworts...
this is a Marchantia species... often called Birds Nest Liverwort

And in 2016, it was discovered that lichens are not the symbiotic relationship between an algae and a fungi.... no, indeedy....
it is a relationship between two different groups of fungi... and an algae! See here.




1 comment:

Susan said...

Great post, some beautiful lichens!