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, March 6, 2024
Usnea Pacificana
Day 145: Far be it from me to miss an opportunity which literally falls from above, so when the combination of wind and snow dropped a long, heavy fir branch in my yard, I simply had to check it for lichens. I was hoping for Kidneys, but no such luck. I settled instead for a chance to improve my skills at identifying Usneas. I made a little checklist, and if you flinch at my flood of weaving terminology, you should probably quit right here, because we're diving into a whole 'nother language which includes isidia, soralia, medulla, cortex, axis, fibrils, papillae, foveation, annular rings and stereomes. With a hand lens trained on a rather dry specimen, I marked off presence/absence, colour, shape and UV reaction until I had narrowed the field down to two: pacificana and subfloridana. Although I would have preferred to have a fully hydrated subject in hand, the ratio of thickness between cortex, medulla and axis suggested Usnea pacificana. As always, I reserve the right to be wrong, because both species are common in western Washington at this elevation.
Labels:
lichens,
Usnea pacificana
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