#lichenized fugus

[lichenaday]

Stereocaulon symphycheilum

Two-toned foam lichen

Just finishing up yet another round of field work in Iceland, where the Stereocaulon lichens are abundant! These lichens are difficult to distinguish from one another and I'm here to tell you all that I have been trying to find a decent description of our little pal S. symphycheilum for a while and I can barely understand WTF they are saying, so if you can't tell what the heck I am talking about don't feel bad. It is a fruticose lichen that looks like pale white-ocher, green tinged spray foam covering finger-like stalks. It has prostrate-decumbent (laying down on the substrate with a slight upturn) pseudopodetia (the stalk-like outgrowths that hold the apothecia), confluent phyllocladia (branch-like outgrowths that are characteristic of the genus) with darker centers and paler margins, and contains lobaric acid which makes it glow under UV light. It has red-brown, bulbous apothecia on the ends of the pseudopodetia. S. symphycheilum wasn't reported in Iceland until 2009, likely because no one could tell that it was any different from the other Stereocaulons until they got really up close and personal with it and really looked at those phyllocladia centers or whatever. Isn't lichenology fun? Wandering around the tundra, looking for nearly microscopic differences in the structures of the crunchy boys growing on every surface? OK I actually do think it's fun but I'm a weirdy.

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info: source | source | source

[lichenaday]

Bryoria capillaris

Gray horsehair lichen

So, confession: This lichen may not be exactly . . . real. I mean it may not be its own species. But I am gonna talk about it as its own species since scientists are still trying to figure out how to define a lichen species anyway. This filamentous-fruticose lichen grows in dangling, hair-like tangles on hardwood and coniferous trees in humid boreal-montane forests. It is typically gray to olive-brown in color, with sun exposed morphs appearing darker brown (they are likely producing melanin to protect themselves from excess sun, just like we do!) It produces farinose soredia out of rounded openings in the thallus surface, and also has some pale openings in the thallus surface where fungal hyphae poke through (pseudocyphellae). It only rarely produces apothecia. Genetic studies are a bit muddled when it comes to the delimitation of B. capillaris--well, really they are a bit muddled for the whole genus. While B. capillaris is morphologically and chemically distinct from other Bryoria lichens, genetics place it and other European morphs under the umbrella of B.  fuscescens. So what causes B. capillaris to look so different? It may be the higher concentration of yeast found in the thallus makes in appear lighter in color compared to the darker thallus of what was once considered B. fuscescens. It could be epigenetically triggered phenotypic plasticity in response to differences in light availability and humidity. It could be that we are seeing the beginnings of evolutionary divergence, but our understanding of the genetic species complex still lumps them together, and over the next thousand years they will diverge more and more. Or something else entirely! It requires more investigation, and I look forward to us continuing to learn more from these amazing amalgamations of organisms as time goes on. 

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[lichenaday]

Stereocaulon dactylophyllum

Finger-scale foam lichen

I found a this lichen's thallus described as "evanescent." So like, it needs to be woken up inside? But can't wake up? I have no idea what that word actually means. *googling* it means the basal thallus grows smaller and smaller until it disappears completely. In this case, it elongates upwards into the pseudopodetia. Cool! So when mature, S. dactylophyllum forms clusters of gray-white or green white branching, coral-like or finger like pseudopodetia covered in phyllocladia (those round bumpy structures). It has terminal apothecia (at the ends of the pseudopodetia) that start out flat, but grow more rounded and bulbous with age, and are red-brown to brown-black in color. S. dactylophyllum grows on siliceous rock in mountainous habitats in the northern hemisphere. Stereocaulon lichens are often called snow lichens or foam-snow lichens because I guess they look like that fake foam snow you can spray on your Christmas tree, so it seemed fitting to share this time of year. Enjoy any current holidays you may be celebrating, and if you don't celebrate any holidays at the moment, you can always celebrate lichens!

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info: source | source | source | a lot of googling

[lichenaday]

Bacidia heterochroa

Look at this adorable, unassuming lichen. Take it in. Absorb it. Realize everything is going to be ok. Now, look at their spores:

SOOOOO LONG!!! You might not know, but most lichen spores are like, 5-10µm (micrometers) in length, and Bacidia spores are 32-73µm! RIDICULOUS! Why are they like this? I. DON'T. KNOW. And the internet is not providing answers. It's gonna bother me for some time, I know it. If no one else has, I'm gonna make it my mission to find out. images: source | source | source info: source | source

[lichenaday]

Umbilicaria aprina

Tentacled rocktripe lichen

What do you think of when you think of tentacles? You know what? No, don't answer that. For the love of god. But now when you think of them, I hope you think of U. aprina. Along with cephalopods and eldritch horrors and . . . whatever else they might bring to mind.

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[lichenaday]

Rhizoplaca glaucophana

A colleague and I were trying to explain the concept of mushrooms to a friend the other day--like, the fact that the mycelium, usually buried in the substrate, is like, the actual organism, and the mushroom is often a temporary structure used to disseminate spores for reproduction. My colleague described this as an apple compared to the tree, whereas I said a mushroom is like a dick to a body. Admittedly my colleague's answer was more correct, but mine had the advantage of similarities in structure to help you remember. When it comes to lichens, however, both of our analogies break down. Take the obvious examples of apothecia, the reproductive structures, in R. glaucophana. The blackish-brown blobbys on the surface. Within these structures are the tube-like asci, which hold the sexual propagules known as ascospores. These propagules are already fertile and ready to grow the fungal lichen constituent. These structures are neither temporary in the way that a fruit or a mushroom is, nor are the used to transfer gametes like a dick can. So what are they like? Well, not much. They're kinda just their own cool thing! Nature, sex, reproduction is complicated--way more complicated than certain less scientifically informed individuals would have you believe. And I neither specialize in this field, nor do I have the time to get into it all, so I will leave it (for now) that nature is cool and weird and complicated and lichen sex is just one of many examples!

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[lichenaday]

Evernia mesomorpha

Boreal oakmoss lichen

My favorite smell in the world might be the smell of Evernia. It has this delicate, earthy aroma that is unparalleled. When I am lichen collecting, I love to stick my face in my lichen bag and get a whiff. If you ever come across some like E. mesomorpha, I recommend you give it a sniff. You'll find this particular gem in cold, coniferous forests, growing in fruticose tufts on the bark of trees. It has a light yellow-green thallus often covered in concolorous soredia. The branches are thick, irregular, wrinkled, and flexible! Plus Evernia mesomorpha sounds like a cool DnD spell I could use to turn myself into a lichen, so there's that.

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[lichenaday]

Physconia detersa

Bottlebrush frost lichen

The seasons are changing, and I woke up to a thick, glistening layer of frost on my window this morning. And I hate it. I hate the cold. But I don't hate the gorgeous frosted tips of P. detersa. This foliose lichen grows in irregularly shaped patches up to 9 cm in diameter. It has long, linear lobes with rounded, overlapping lobe tips. The upper surface is gray to gray-brown in color, and partially covered in frosty, white pruina near the lobe tips. Lobe margins are covered in soredia, and apothecia have sorediate margins. The lower surface is lighter brown toward the lobe tips, but darkens in color toward the thallus center. It has black, branched rhizines. P. detersa can be found in North America, Europe, Asia, where is grows on rock, bark, and moss, rocking those frosted tips long after they have gone out of style. Gotta respect that.

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