365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Stalking The Wild Pilophorus
Day 150: Rather than taking a longer walk, I spent a large portion of my lunch break scrutinizing every square inch of exposed rock alongside the road between the Longmire housing area and the Community Building today and discovered to my great delight many more well-established colonies of Pilophorus acicularis. This uncommon species has taken over as my new favourite lichen. Oddly, I found none at all on the north side of the bridge; apparently the substrate there is already sufficiently developed for second-growth species like Cladonia and Stereocaulon to take hold.
I'm certain that if anyone had driven by, they might have wondered what I was so intent on photographing. I think I need a bumper sticker for my car: "Easily distracted by lichens."
Labels:
Devil's Matchstick,
lichen,
Longmire,
MORA,
Pilophorus acicularis,
pioneer species
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