Mosses, Lichens, Liverworts etc: under-recorded groups

[ian mcdonald]

It was good to see Lichens being featured on Gardeners World on Friday.

[ian mcdonald]

A lichen on birch on the local patch img. 1020302.

[David Lyttle]

A couple of common lichens from my garden Ramalina sp and Teloschistes chrysophthalmus. Lichens are always interesting photographic subjects especially if the wind is blowing everything else around.

[Leucogenes]

I have just discovered this theme and am thrilled about the pictures shown ... from another world.
Last year I saw this lichen (on limestone rock) in the Arctic-Alpine-Garden in Chemnitz ... I suspect Cladonia fimbriata .

[Hoy]

Some Cladonia spp seen in the montane birch forest during Easter. Hope the names are correct!

Cladonia arbuscula with Cetraria islandica




Cladonia ecmocyna




Cladonia gracilis




Cladonia pleurota




Mix

[ian mcdonald]

Troy, it looks like you have had a good Easter.

[David Lyttle]

Interesting Cladonia pleurota is found in Norway as well as New Zealand!

Some more lichens from a recent trip to the northern part of the South Island: Sticta latifrons epiphytic on the trunk of silver beech (Nothofagus menziesii)





A glade covered with  mainly Cladia retipora



Lichen garden with a least five different species of lichen



More lichens with Gaultheria macrostigma

[David Lyttle]

More lichens this time from the West Coast. The high rainfall (even more than in Scotland) encourages the growth of lichens and bryophytes to the extent that every available surface supports a profusion of cryptograms.
The first photo shows a shrub of Myrsine divaricata growing on the margin of beech forest in the Blue Grey River.  The branches are entirely covered with lichens.



Next a close up of a large foliose lichen growing on the Myrsine. Provisional identification is a species of Hypogymnia



Final picture is a clump of lichens  at the base of a beech tree in the Victoria Forest Park. The forest is very dense so it is difficult to isolate a subject and get good photos.

[Leucogenes]

Dreamlike photos, David..., as usual. It looks like in the fairy tale wood.

[ian mcdonald]

Aulacomnium palustre on the local patch img. 1020549.

[David Lyttle]

Here are a couple of lichen photos this time from my own garden. First a lichen covered boulder in my rock garden. The boulder which is hard basaltic volcanic rock is completely with different lichens.



Second is a species of Placopsis also growing on a basaltic boulder. The interesting thing is that the surface is covered with a biological crust that facilitates the breakdown of the mineral substrate.



When I prepare stone for building I generally strip away the weathered surface layer with a water blaster and it is remarkable how quickly it re-establishes .

[Robert]

I am starting to document the lichens as well as the bryophytes in our Sacramento, California, neighborhood. I found a few foliose lichen species. This Candelaria species was growing on Liriodendron and Zelkova (street trees). It is either C. concolor (most likely) or C. pacifica. I also saw Flavoparmelia caperata from a distance on Prunus mume (I need permission from the home owner to photograph it). The number of lichen species at the farm in El Dorado County is much greater. Of coarse, there are many lichen in the Sierra Neavada Mountains too. I will post photographs on my diary as I can. 

[ian mcdonald]

Colourful Sphagnum img. 1020834. A lichen on a wall, maybe Rhizocarpon geographicum img.00031. Same wall img.00034. A xanthoria sp? img. 00036. An orange species img. 00032. All lichens were on a dry stone wall inland.

[Robert]

Ian,

Those are some beautiful Lichens, a nice Bryophyte too.

A few crustose lichens from the Sierra Nevada.



Lecanora mellea (center left - brown) with Rhizocarpon, most likely lecanorinum (yellow lichens). I still need to ID the others on this rock. Below the Lecanora is Umbillicaria hyperborea. Just one more to ID. 



Pleopsidium flavum

[Robert]

More lichens from El Dorado County, California



Evernia prunastri. This is a very common fruticose species found on the twigs of Quercus at our El Dorado County farm.



Flavopunctelia flavantior. A foliose species on Quercus at our El Dorado County farm. This species can almost completely cover the bark, even on large branches.



A small oak twig with three lichen species: Xanthomedoza fallax (large orange), Xanothoria candelaria (tiny orange with many apothecia, and Candelaria concolor. Xanthomedoza and Candelaria are generally indicative of a nitrogen rich environment. Sample from near the main county road at our El Dorado County farm.