365Caws is now in its 16th year of publication. If I am unable to post daily, I hope readers who love the natural world and fiberarts will seize those days to read the older material. Remember that this has been my journey as well, so you may find errors in my identifications of plants. I have tried to correct them as I discover them. Likewise, I have refined fiberarts techniques and have adjusted recipes, so search by tags to find the most current information. And thank you for following me!
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Cladonia Grayi
Day 159: In my numerous walks on the Westside Road, I've noticed a paucity of lichen diversity and lichens in general. However, a few days ago, I came across a most luxurious colony of Cladonia grayi, one of the "mealy" pixie-cup species. It is not an uncommon lichen, but here was confined to one shelf of a rock outcropping about 8 inches wide and 18 inches long. Its occurrence in such a limited area made me wonder what conditions allowed it to establish there and not elsewhere on the same exposure. Is it some subtle difference in the substrate, a vein of some mineral in the rock? It was certainly nothing I could detect with the naked eye. Oh, for access to a laboratory and a tame lichen expert! There is so much I'd like to know about these fascinating life forms.
Labels:
Cladonia grayi,
lichens,
MORA,
Pixie-cup Lichen,
Westside Road
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