365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
Ramalina Thrausta
Day 80: What a great way to start the new year! I picked up a lichen specimen on my way back from Sulphur Creek Falls yesterday after deciding that it was a Ramalina of some sort, and therefore a new genus for my unofficial lichen life list (or rather, that I found on my own instead of having one handed to me by an expert). Ramalinas are characterized by small perforations in the thallus; some species are so perforated that they look like lace. Although I couldn't see the holes with my naked eye, other details clued me in: both upper and lower surfaces were uniform in colour and the branches were flattened. I thought I might have trouble keying it out, but its growth habit and size quickly narrowed the options. Under the microscope, the perforations were visible, as well as a few very small patches of soredia. Bingo! At least I'd thought to take a picture of the tuft in the field, because by the time I got done picking it apart, it qualified as "specimen destroyed during analysis." May the joy of discovery be part of your life in 2019!
Labels:
microscopy,
Ramalina thrausta,
Sulphur Creek Falls
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