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.
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Hypogymnia Phys...Waitaminit!
Day 293: Hypogymnia physodes is a fairly common lichen in the Pacific Northwest. Like other Hypogymnias, its lobes are tubular, and distinguishing the particular species sometimes involves separating the grey-green top surface from the black bottom surface so that the medullary ceiling can be observed. A member of our Morris dance side handed me a small brown box containing a specimen at Monday's dance-out, and I recognized it immediately as a representative of the tube lichens.
Seriously, though...when Tink handed me a tiny package, I was puzzled. There was no special event to commemorate. What could it possibly contain? I lifted the lid and found this darling lichen pendant which she had picked up at a craft fair. "I knew you had to have it, Crow," she said. If not H. physodes (shown here growing on a fir tree in my yard), it is certainly a member of the genus and as such, is destined to become one of my favourite pieces of jewelry. Thank you, Tink!
Labels:
Hypogymnia physodes,
jewelry,
pendant,
Tink McCoy
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