Day 182: Well, fooey. I was in fairly close proximity to Puget Sound yesterday and happened across a dozen or so landscaping trees which were covered in greenish-gold lichen. Xanthoria polycarpa is common in the Pacific Northwest, but a second rarer species (Xanthoria parietina) sometimes occurs in the Willamette-Puget Trough. Knowing this, I decided to pull back into my parking space despite the rain (I'd been pulling out) and have a closer look. You never know, and if you don't check, you might miss something good. Initially, I was impressed with the size of the apothecia on this particular specimen. Then I noticed the size of the lobes. "Hmmmm," sez I. "That's bigger than any polycarpa I ever saw before." I had not brought a hand lens, nor had I brought a container, but I lifted a small sample from the bark and put it in one of the cup-holder slots in the car, reminding myself gently not to put my water bottle back in on top of it. It was the first thing I brought in the house when I got home eight hours later. This morning, I picked off one of the apothecia and did a close inspection under the dissecting scope. Nope, no rhizines at all. Hopes dashed, I was forced to rule out parietina. Drat.
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