365Caws is now in its 16th year of publication. If I am unable to post daily, I hope readers who love the natural world and fiberarts will seize those days to read the older material. Remember that this has been my journey as well, so you may find errors in my identifications of plants. I have tried to correct them as I discover them. Likewise, I have refined fiberarts techniques and have adjusted recipes, so search by tags to find the most current information. And thank you for following me!
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
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