Generally Overlooked

Day 132: "Generally overlooked by lichenologists," says Dr. Brodo, and I am guilty as charged. After seeing a friend's photo of Omphalina umbellifera yesterday, I spent a sleepless night trying to recall where I might have observed the species, only to shrug it off as a mushroom. My mind's eye kept alighting on one particular stump along the Bud Blancher Trail, and indeed that was where I discovered this specimen of the lichen.

Yes, that's right...lichen. Omphalina is unusual in that it is one of only three North American lichen genera to have a basidiomycete as its mycobiont (fungal partner). In plainer terms, that means its reproductive process is carried out in a different type of cell than most other lichens. Omphalina's umbrella is only part of the lichen. The thallus (body) is the granular pea-green crust covering the wood. Those granules are tiny fungal envelopes filled with cells of green algae. It's no wonder Omphalina is "generally overlooked" and dismissed as "just a mushroom," not worth a lichenologist's notice!