Forest Stoplight

Day 185: Longmire Campground is a particularly lichen-rich area, trees festooned with Alectoria sarmentosa, branches entirely masked by lavish colonies of Lobaria oregana and Lobaria pulmonaria, a quilt of Stereocaulon and Cladina rangiferina laid over mossy rocks which were once riverbed. It has its share of vascular plants, but the overall impression a visitor receives is of an understory thick with moss and lichen. A few oddities crop up now and then, such as Hemitomes congestum, a mycoheterotroph also known as Gnome Plant, implying that the mycorrhizal elements here contribute to a diverse and complex micro-ecology.

Having somewhat neglected the more common lichens of the area, I went exploring for textbook specimens to photograph for my records. Into the forest a few hundred yards, I was wading through mounds of Cladina and Stereocaulon when a brilliant red "stoplight" pulled me to a halt. It was perhaps the most luxurious colony of Cladonia bellidiflora I have ever found, more unusual because it appeared to be confined entirely to one moss-covered boulder not much larger than a cantaloupe. A few other scattered specimens were found as well, at most three or four in a group, none so lavish as those found on this one rock. "Micro-ecology," indeed! Why in this spot and no other? I wish they would explain themselves!