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, January 30, 2019
Peltigera Britannica
Day 109: Any of my regular readers will vouch for the fact that I love lichens. In fact, I refer to them as the "wildflowers of winter" because so many of them come into fruit during the cold months of the year. Peltigera britannica is an example. If you look closely at the photos, you will see that the green surface of its lobes are flecked with tiny black dots. These are its cephalodia, small gall-like propagules which are at this point composed of cyanobacteria. Britannica's cephalodia detach easily when mature, often washing off during rainy periods. They then capture the same green algae (Nostoc) found in the parent lichen, and begin to develop lobes of their own. This lichen may also reproduce through the spores contained in its "painted-fingernail" apothecia (photo, right). Many lichens demonstrate more than one reproductive strategy, insurance for their survival.
Labels:
apothecia,
cephalodia,
Longmire,
MORA,
Peltigera britannica
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