Pilophorus and Friends

Day 41: Walking the one-mile loop trail in Ashford County Park, I didn't really expect to find anything I hadn't seen dozens of times, although I was rather hoping for a slime mold. None showed up, but as I began the descending leg of the trip, I focused on the boulders lining the uphill side of the trail. There were several patches of dusty grey-green lichenization, too fine and too immature for me to even guess at an identification until I came to this one. "Pilophorus acicularis!" I said. It's one of my favourites, and its black-tipped apothecia make it unmistakable. You can see two or three in the upper right corner of the photo. It wasn't until I pulled the pictures up on the computer that I noticed another set of black apothecia in the lower left. They are not the same lichen. Had I not been so intent on Pilophorus, I would have sectioned one of the apothecia with my thumbnail to see if it contained any red pigment. Next time I walk the trail, I'll check to see if it's Mycoblastus sanguinarius, as I believe it might be.

Anatomically Correct

Day 84: According to at least one source, specimens of this crustose lichen taken from locations in the Cascades and other inland areas have probably been misidentified as Mycoblastus affinis because they lacked the characteristic pigmentation apparent in Mycoblastus sanguinarius which gives it the common name of "Bloody Heart." It has been suggested that the lack of red pigment is typical of inland examples and indeed, I've sectioned several hundred of them with my thumbnail and have only found it in a few cases. The tiny (1-2 mm.) black apothecia erupt from a nearly-white crustose thallus and are quite common in the Pacific Northwest's conifer forests. This one was anatomically correct.

Mycoblastus Sanguinarius, Bloody Heart

Day 156: The difficulty in accurately identifying Bloody Heart Lichen (Mycoblastus sanguinarius) is that it has a look-alike in its relative, M. affinis and both occur in the Pacific Northwest. To further add to the difficulty of making a positive ID, not all examples of M. sanguinarius have the characteristic red pigment at the base of their apothecia, visible when cut in half from top to base. When confronted with atypical specimens, it is easy to misidentify them as affinis.

I was unaware of this issue until I discovered a research paper from the National Institute of Health yesterday. In fact, the paper suggested that many examples identified as affinis were in fact its sanguine cousin. The ones I was finding around Longmire showed no pigmentation, but did not entirely conform to the profile for affinis, either. I felt certain that they were sanguinarius, so I set out on a snowy mission. Halfway to Cougar Rock, I found my target species. It was quite gratifying to see the bloody heart of this dot lichen revealed upon being sectioned with my thumbnail.