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, April 14, 2016
Omphalina Umbellifera, A Lichen
Day 184: Despite its appearance, Omphalina umbellifera is technically not a mushroom. It is a lichen, one of only three lichen genera in the US known to have a basidiomycete as the fungal partner (as opposed to an ascomycete). What this means in layman's terms is that these lichens reproduce via different types of cells (asci versus basidia). It also means that poor little Omphalina is often disregarded by lichenologists when in fact it probably deserves closer study than many of its ascomycete cousins. Look for Omphalina on well-decayed ends of downed trees and have a little fun with your hiking friends when you explain that it's not a mushroom.
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