Mar 17, 2025
Hello I saw this guy while gardening in San Francisco was wondering if it was a lichen?
It’s the dark green one on the bottom
It is not, but what it is is still extremely cool. That is a hornwort (Anthocerotophyta), a distinct type of bryophyte separate from moss and liverworts. Those long "horns" are the sporophytes, aka spore producing structures. What an adorable little cryptogam!