I came across the lichen below through staring at the ground--something I must do more vigilantly.
How could I ever have missed that brilliant scarlet? Maybe it only shows that way for a brief time. Maybe it's just so small that it's easy to pass it by.
When I first saw it associated with the grey, branchy stuff, being more plant than lichen oriented, I assumed that I was seeing one organism (or as it turns out, one community--lichens are algaes and fungi working together), flowers and foliage. Turns out it is most likely two.
I think the red-capped stuff is British soldier lichen (Cladonia cristatella). I'm not sure about the grey--could be Reindeer lichen (Cladina rangiferina). They were growing in the field just above the wetland around the cedar bush.
3 comments:
That's a very beautiful organism.
Yes, I'm always amazed when I see this colour out in the wilds--cardinals, cardinal flower, a tiny spider that lives in the garden, and now this lichen. Startling against all those greens and browns.
I think the IDs are probably right for these two lichens. I did think the podetia (stalks) of the British Soldiers was a little odd looking, but there's probably some variation in them. The other is probably Reindeer Lichen - although there are some that are of similar species. I've found that with the mosses and lichens, it's really helpful to view them with a hand lens. I'm not good at IDs of either, but getting a very close-up view of them does help a lot. Nice photos!
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