Polycauliona Polycarpa

Day 190: I liked this lichen when it was Xanthoria polycarpa, but then the taxonomists got hold of some research showing that it wasn't actually a Xanthoria and needed a different name. They dubbed it Polycauliona polycarpa, and now I like it even more because that's just so much fun to say: "Polly-collie-own-a," as if your parrot was trying to tell you it had adopted a dog, but couldn't quite get the words in the right order. Anyone who has hadd a parrot or macaw companion has likely experienced the issues birds have with English grammar structure (sidebar: my mother's parrot Turkey used to sing "Happy birthkey, dear Turkday!"). In any event, however delightful "Polycauliona" is to pronounce, it still tends to slip my mind when I see it on a tree, and although I remember that it's no longer "Xanthoria," its new name tends to elude me. Its new name tells me nothing which would assist with field identification other than the fact that it is very fruitful (meaning it has a lot of apothecia, i.e.,  the little round disks filling much of the central portion of this specimen). When it was Xanthoria, I could assume it was yellow (xanthous). However, the human mind being the strange thing it is, wandering off to form wild connections in its recesses, perhaps I can remember "Polycauliona" by associating it with Turkey, a Yellow-naped Amazon.

Lichens Rock!

Day 112: Lichens rock! This is a younger example of Polycauliona polycarpa from a different location than yesterday's rosette. Niche ecology can have an effect on many species' growth habits: presence of abundant moisture may produce a higher algal concentration, exposure to wind or polluted air may cause changes in shape, colour or size; even the presence of other lichens may affect the delicate chemistry in a lichen community. Field characteristics can be misleading in the overview, as was the case with the Polycauliona rosette I featured yesterday. Exposed to the fumes of traffic, portions of it had lost the distinctive yellow-orange colour which typifies the species.

And that said, I have spent a frustrating morning with half a dozen samples from two outings, only three of which I have managed to identify. Although I enjoy a good puzzle, I do prefer to fit all the pieces together in a tidy package. It's not happening, and I blame the political situation. Normally, I can find refuge in science, occupying my mind with the whys and wherefores, but today I am asking myself whether it's worth trying to educate a humanity which seems bent on its own destruction, and worse, set to take the planet down with it. I am finding no comfort, not even in the company of my beloved lichens.

Polycauliona Polycarpa

Day 111: Well, I hit my brakes, heedless of the guy behind me for the split second it took to remember I was on a busy street, whereupon I put my foot back on the gas pedal and pulled into the next parking area. Then I hopped out of the car, camera in hand, to run back to the lichen I'd spotted while driving. Some things simply can't be ignored. But alas, once I got home and ran it through the field guides, the bit I pared off the tree with my thumbnail proved it to be something I'd seen before, although a somewhat older and more developed specimen. That said, it has a new name, and that makes it worth mention: Xanthoria polycarpa is now known as Polycauliona polycarpa, and if you don't feel like a parrot after saying "poly" that many times in succession, I'll be even more surprised. I'd rather hoped it might have turned out to be Xanthoria parietina (which for some odd reason is still placed in Xanthoria), but its lobes are too narrow. A second whoozamawhatsit, strongly sorediate and green with dark brown apothecia liberated from a different tree continues to elude me. As if I didn't have anything else to do with my time...