Day 122: There I was, walking along the boardwalk at Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, nudging the occasional foliose lichen and commenting aloud on their identities, but dismissing the common pale green crustose presence without truly getting in close. I had paused to sort out an Usnea on the wooden rail and was stepping away when little orange disks caught my eye. "Hang on a mo'," I said. "That's Ochrolechia!"
Now how could Crow have missed this, you wonder? Well, let me put it in perspective because I didn't think to drag out my penny. A standard pencil eraser is approximately 6 mm. The largest disk in this photo would measure out at roughly 2 mm or a little smaller. You could arrange six of the mid-sized ones on top of an eraser with space for imaginary grout between them.
Several Ochrolechias occur in the Pacific Northwest and can be separated from each other by identifying the substrate on which they are growing, or by performing chemical tests. Ochrolechia laevigata responds to the application of common chlorine bleach by turning red, a "C+" reaction.
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