Day 98: It's always a thrill for me to find and identify a new lichen for my Life List ("and identify" is the qualifier), but I am a little ashamed to admit that this this dense colony of Baeomyces rufus (Brown Beret Lichen) was growing on a group of Cladonia-bearing rocks which I have studied minutely on several occasions. How did I overlook it? It may have been that the apothecia were just developing and I may have dismissed it for Icmadophila ericetorum, guilty of the sin of not looking closely enough to see the white podetia beneath the pinkish-tan berets. Icmadophila ericetorum is stalkless, but also grows from a pale green thallus (one of the most peculiar colours I've witnessed in nature). Baeomyces' thallus is slightly more yellowish, and at least with these specimens, less uniform. Under a magnifier, the thallus is revealed to be finely squamulose (scaly) or warty, but it's those little white stalks which set this species apart from Icmadophila and give away its true identity. Suffice to say that finding it in profusion at this location was quite a surprise! That'll teach me to pay attention to the whole picture, and not just the first thing which catches my eye.
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