Umbilicaria Angulata

Day 224: Yes, I know this one won't win any beauty contests, but it is the first of its genus that I have found. It is a lichen: Umbilicaria angulata. Joe Dreimiller and I set off at 8 AM to hike up Rampart Ridge with the intention of giving one talus slope a more thorough going-over. We'd seen some odd Cladonias there during Bio-Blitz and hadn't been able to identify them readily in the field. On the way up, we paused to get photos of Parmelia hygrophila, and while surveying for other examples of that species, we discovered the Umbilicaria. Later in the day, we found this textbook specimen near the top of Rampart.

The Umbilicarias take their name from the fact that they attach to their substrate with a single holdfast. Although this lichen at first seems appressed, the lobes are in fact free of the rock, extending from a "bellybutton" (slightly below the center point in this photo). Black, irregular apothecia set in small depressions and a black lower surface with abundant, tiny branched rhizines clinch the identity.

In six and a half hours of searching under intermittent rain, we located three identifiable species to add to my Park database. I got GPS coordinates and better photos of some we'd classified during Bio-Blitz, and predictably found a couple more which I can't nail down. But the day was not altogether stellar. On the way down, I took a fall on a slick puncheon walkway, wrenching foot, ankle and knee in different directions. I wasn't hurt, but the knee is showing signs of bruising and my backside is going to be purple by morning!