Day 101: Nothing excites me more than finding and identifying something I haven't previously catalogued. It doesn't have to be a rare species, although that's certainly a bonus. It just needs to be new to me. As many times as I've walked around Longmire Campground, I have failed to notice the abundance of this "pelt" lichen until today when the brilliant green thallus drew my attention during a rather wet lunchtime patrol. Later on my walk, I discovered several colonies in fruit, the large mahogany-brown apothecia sticking up like little flags. The scattered cephalodia (greyish-black dots which contain cyanobacteria) are what give this lichen its common name, Freckle Pelt. It is one of four species which host a green algal photobiont, the photosynthetic component of a lichen. In Peltigera aphthosa, this component turns brown when dry or when exposed to sunlight, undoubtedly the reason I overlooked it until now.
No comments:
Post a Comment