Refreshing!

Day 2: A few days ago, I mentioned that there were very few lichens which grow on cedar. I should have specified live cedar, as opposed to ancient cedar fence rails and long-dead stumps. For some reason, old cedar (presumably that which has released almost all its volatile oils) is very prone to developing lush and diverse colonies of Cladonias, Platismatias (several shown in the photo), Parmelias and Usneas as can be witnessed on a brief walk around my yard. Three weeks ago, these lichens were so crisp, you could have crumbled them between your fingers, dry as bones and brittle as sugar-glass. A little rain and cooler temps restored them to full splendor, and in no time, some had begun to fruit (one of the Cladonias above shows its brown apothecia, the fruiting bodies of the species). Autumn and winter are refreshing times for lichens!

Cladonia Squamosa

Day 23: Sufficiently variable in form to confuse budding lichenologists, Cladonia squamosa is quite common on the west side of the mountains, most often found on rotting wood. A few points (or lack of them!) are helpful in narrowing down the species, if perhaps not the subspecies. Brown apothecia are uncommon, but if you're lucky, that will give you a starting point as will a dense layer of squamules (scales) on the short, squat podetia (stalks). These squamules dislodge fairly readily and often leave the white medulla exposed. The medulla darkens on exposure, so sometimes the lichen has a brownish tinge. Most diagnostic are the openings at the tips of the podetia (not obvious in this photo). Chemical testing is required to narrow down an identification to subspecies.

Hypogymnia Physodes

Day 52: My fence is home to quite a variety of lichens, and calling to mind the cobbler's kids and their bare feet, I have to admit that I've never troubled myself to identify many of them. Generically, they're "fencepost lichens" in a hypothetical field guide to Crow's yard, a category which includes Usneas, Cladonias and Evernia, distinguished only by their attachment to cedar rails. I've never taken samples, never looked at potential identifying features until recently when I was prompted to do so by finding several of these small rosettes growing on the side of my house. Anything which can survive on a substrate of plastic is worthy of further study, so today I nicked a lobe and brought it indoors for examination. Thinking I had a fairly good idea where it belonged, I attempted to fit it into a family, but square peg that it was, it refused to go in the round hole. I don't know what compelled me to scrape at the dark underside with my thumbnail, but when I did so, it came away freely, revealing a white medullary ceiling. What? Waitaminit...it's a Hypogymnia! From the moment of that epiphany, the rest of the pieces fell neatly into place: Hypogymnia physodes, "one of the most common tree lichens in the north." Tree lichen, eh? Mine have a taste for vinyl siding.