Lichenomphalia Umbellifera

Day 140: Day before yesterday, I was feeling so ancy that whenever I stuck something in the microwave (a cup of coffee, my dinner), I jogged in place until the cooking/heating was done. The idleness first forced upon me by flu/pneumonia in January has been compounded by icy roads and snow in my driveway for the last two weeks, so I resolved that at the first opportunity, I would get out on a trail and put some miles on my feet. My strength needs rebuilding, but I managed six miles in just over two hours, although on terrain with very little elevation change. My goal was a rock beside a gate, on which a nice colony of (presumably) the lichen Dibaeis baomyces grows; however, it was not as lush as I'd hoped. I was despairing of finding a "blog shot" until on the return and in different light, I found a log lush with Lichenomphalia umbellifera. This is one of the few lichens which has a basidiomycete as the mycobiont, and although rare elsewhere, is fairly common in its PNW/arctic range. The squamules which appear on the log in this image belong to the skinny Cladonia spires. The thallus of Lichenomphalia is the darker green, finely granular crust on the surface of the wood.