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.
Friday, April 13, 2018
Xanthoria Polycarpa
Day 182: Well, fooey. I was in fairly close proximity to Puget Sound yesterday and happened across a dozen or so landscaping trees which were covered in greenish-gold lichen. Xanthoria polycarpa is common in the Pacific Northwest, but a second rarer species (Xanthoria parietina) sometimes occurs in the Willamette-Puget Trough. Knowing this, I decided to pull back into my parking space despite the rain (I'd been pulling out) and have a closer look. You never know, and if you don't check, you might miss something good. Initially, I was impressed with the size of the apothecia on this particular specimen. Then I noticed the size of the lobes. "Hmmmm," sez I. "That's bigger than any polycarpa I ever saw before." I had not brought a hand lens, nor had I brought a container, but I lifted a small sample from the bark and put it in one of the cup-holder slots in the car, reminding myself gently not to put my water bottle back in on top of it. It was the first thing I brought in the house when I got home eight hours later. This morning, I picked off one of the apothecia and did a close inspection under the dissecting scope. Nope, no rhizines at all. Hopes dashed, I was forced to rule out parietina. Drat.
Labels:
Olympia,
Shipwreck Beads,
Sunburst lichen,
Xanthoria polycarpa
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment