An Elegant Script

Day 148: I've always thought of myself as a keen observer of Nature, but in following my passion for lichens, I've discovered a vast, miniature world I never knew existed, and in places I've visited hundreds of times. Take Graphis scripta, for example. This photo shows it much larger than life, and in the Cowlitz Wildlife area where I was hiking a few days ago, it is abundant on almost every Red Alder in the forest. The lirellae seldom measure more than 5 mm. in length and here, few exceed 3 mm., yet in places, they are so dense as to appear almost solidly black. In others, they may cover much of the lower six feet or so of any given tree trunk in the graceful, uniform distribution shown here. The same abundance is true of Ochrolechia laevigata, one of the disk lichens. What else have I missed by not looking closely enough at my surroundings? What other beauties have been right under my nose?