#macrolichens

[cedar-glade]

two dope ass macrolichens I got very excited about in a walnut tree last spring (55 dbh walnut 115 feet top to bottom which is the biggest black walnut i’ve ever climbed hidden in this valley in Mt. Airy forest in Cincinnati. )

I was excited because I don’t see these in Cincinnati though they are common in southern Ohio despite the fact. Really uncommon in city regions due to heat island issues low rainfall compared to past rain due to deforestation and climate change, and the classic air pollution problem. We got lucky, this walnut was in a valley and surrounded by forest, the tips were caked in one of these though the other was just pure luck to begin with. My first time seeing this species out of high quality habitat like Adams county Ohio or RRG region Kentucky.

Top is my favorite lichen, a somewhat variable species that appears on moss thats on dolomite, or moss thats on trees.

Shaggy-fringe Lichen, like even the apothecia are fringed!, when hydrated the thallus is an emerald green, its puffy sometimes and looks like a fringy tube lichen and sometimes the thallus looks thin like this picture, Anaptychia palmulata

Moondust Speckled Lichen with its dope apothecia large and in charge, Punctelia caseana

[cedar-glade]

Some super common macro lichens in the midwest you can readily learn. Generalized to mainly wood surface and not super generalized on rock.

Common Greenshield Lichen, Flavoparmelia caperata

vs

Punctelia rudecta, and recent split Punctelia missouriensis (see those white speckled lobes. during full developement and we see a different colored isidiate core. this is why it’s commonly known as the rough speckled shield ) (this concept can be seen in the lower specimen.) (The upper though developes consistently less isidiate core and instead has overlapping squamulobes which gives it a mealy look.) (Called Mealy Speckled Shield lichen.)

What isn’t as common is large thallus mats with proper apothecia developement. Its like a light blue core if it’s the case unlike moon glow lichen which has a brown apothecia core and smooth axle bristle which looks green when hydrated and has an orange like tint when dry. imishaga doesn’t seem to produce apothecia or an isidiate core while rough speckled can produce both though the apothecia are supposed to be small like seen above on this Quercus muehlenbergii

the green shield will be smooth, baltimore green shield is a rock species where as smooth(rare) and common are both on wood, not an isidiate display, and fully same colored thallus wet or dry.

the bottom picture is the two colored thallus of rough speckled sheild without an isidiate core that i put water on to see if i could get hydrated colors.

[cedar-glade]

Smooth axle bristle, moderate sized macro lichen on wood. the green to orange apothecia are your easy and notable identification point here.

Myelochroa galbina

compared to the large shield lichens like missouri rough shield lichen, mealy speckled shield, common rough speckled shield, and common green shield the lack of isidiate groups, presence of those really cool green to orange apothecia are kinda your critical give away. This is also less common in areas with high air pollution like cities. (yes all cities with deforestation should be considered more polluted than what is reported) lichens are great bio indicators for air quality and shouldn’t be ignored.