I've been collecting too many lichen photos, so here's a small photo dump of a few of them. I find the flat ones just as interesting as the curly ones, and they're all the more interesting the closer you look.
That last one was an alpine forest species, and much larger than the others
#DailyMitePic × #LichenSubscribe: went out for a walk today but it was colder and rainier than I expected and I had to go home. But I did get this shot of clover mites and their eggs nestled into the folds of lichen on a spruce tree.
It was a very bad idea. The sun was shining but there was such a cold wind that I'm pretty sure my bones froze over. Also the pictures didn't turn out too well either. Probably because I couldn't feel my hands.
Note to self: maybe don't go out until July. If then.
Habitat, flood and drought control, carbon sequestration. Wetlands do it all. Is your city not flooded after every rain or snow melt event? Thank your local wetland, and the people who have worked to preserve it.
There is the most amazing blue stuff growing on my very old branches on a neglected and damp woodpile (slime / algae / moss / lichen?). I’ve never seen anything quite like it! (Northern Tuscany, Italy 🇮🇹 ) Not ideal for burning & heating my old house, but aesthetically pleasing.
EDIT: huge thanks to @ak_text who tells me this is a cobalt crust fungus (Terana caerulea), aka “velvet blue spread”. And very pretty it is too.
The fungi realm has been called the "hidden kingdom," a mysterious world populated by microscopic spores, gigantic mushrooms and toadstools, and a host of other multicellular organisms ranging widely in color, size, and shape.
A cluster of Cladonia fimbriata (?) cups looking like golf tees. Some of them are shiny because of some rain overnight.
I think those little black / red blobs around the edges are immature fruiting bodies just starting to develop.
There's so much cool stuff going on when you start looking at the macro level of things! I couldn't even see the red / black blobs when I took the pic...
In this thread I shall post a few silly pictures of mosses, lichens, ferns, and mushrooms that have pleased me in recent walks around my garden and the PNW.
This first one is from my garden: a little clumpet of things growing on a lilac limb.
You know lichens are out there, right? Algae and fungi - two entirely separate kingdoms of life! - living weird, entangled mutually beneficial lives on all manner of surfaces, no doubt plotting something both beautiful and nefarious. What a world. #LichenSubscribe
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