Beards and Flying Saucers

 One of my first posts on lichens was about Usnea, Beard lichens.  I am gradually getting better at seeing the difference between the different species and saw two examples on the Wildcat Trail at Allt Laraidh (Aultlarie), at the North end of the Newtonmore.  

Last week you could walk up to the falls, which were full of water from the recent rain and snowmelt:

This is a lovely walk but at the moment (late February 2021) the path has washed away so only the lower part is accessible.

Lower down the Allt Laraidh, was a fallen tree.

A fallen willow

This is a lichen hunter's dream as all the lichens that grow high up are now within easy reach.  And there were plenty of lichens to look at.

My favourite was this one - with the flying saucers:

Usnea subfloridana with circular fruits

The fruiting bodies are circles with "eyelashes" growing out of them, and I have never seen them before.

The other lichen that was new to me was long and dangly:

The long strands look a bit like fish bones:

I think this one is Usnea dasopoga.

If you are not interested in naming lichens, there is still plenty to admire  - like this next box, also at Allt Laraidh, which is growing its own camouflage!

Pixie Cups

There is one group of lichens that is easy to spot. They are like miniature forests. The "trees" can take different shapes, the most obvious being a tiny goblet or "pixie cup."

Beneath the "trees" is a layer of tiny leaves (called squamules) like the grass in a forest.

This group all go by the name Cladonia and they come in many forms. As well as the cup shape, they can be thick and stumpy:

or pointy:

or tubular (these remind me of some sort of sea creature):

or have "fingers"

The one with "fingers" is Cladonia polydactyla  (polydactyla = many fingers) but I needed an expert to confirm that identification as the group called Cladonia are not easy to ID with certainty.

Some of them have blobs (called apothecia) on the ends, red in these pictures, which produce spores to spread the lichen.  The green powdery appearance on the "trunk" (fairy dust!) is another way it spreads itself.

Cladonia grow on bark, moss, and rotting wood so you can see some in Newtonmore without going far. Check out the fence on the path between the Main Street and Craig Dhu Road, opposite Curley's lane.

Happy Hunting!

Branching out

 As lockdown continues,  and the local walks become increasingly familiar, I have enjoyed keeping a lookout for new (to me) lichens.  As there about 250 recorded around the Newtonmore area and I have only come to grips with about 30, there are plenty more to look out for.  I am enjoying the posts on the Scottish Lichens Facebook group which is a great way to get a feel for what a lichen might be, which is the first hurdle. In February, we are having a Twig Challenge, so I went in search of an interesting twig.  I found one on the hawthorn on the top Golf Course (the Loch Imrich end).  There aren't many hawthorns locally apart from those planted in hedges.

Hawthorn berries 

Here is a small length of twig that I thought was interesting:

Hawthorn twig festooned with lichens

There are at least 9 lichens on this short length of twig (2 in the purple ring):

There are three different types of lichen - the dangly ones (circled in green and red) are easiest to see.  The more delicate one, circled in green is an Usnea species.  There are different ones but they all look pretty similar and are called beard lichens. There are plenty growing around Newtonmore on Birch  trees or even fenceposts.

Usnea spp. and Ramalina fraxinea

The broader one, circled in red, is Ramalina fraxinia, or the Leafy Ash lichen, though it grows on other trees apart from Ash. If you walk down Newtonmore Main Street it grows on a few ornamental trees in people's gardens, and it likes Sycamores rather than Birch or Pine.

The next type of lichen is formed of little leaves that are attached to the bark, like the ones circled in blue and white at the right hand end.

Parmelia sulcata

Lichens reveal more and more when you look at them closely, so some form of magnification really helps you enter their tiny world. I have a hand lens (x10) and a clip on macro lens for my phone which is how the closeup photos are taken. The blue-grey leafy lichen is Powdered Crottle (Parmelia sulcata). You can see a powdery surface breaking out from the lobes (leaves).  This is a mini package of the lichen which can spread it to other areas.

Another leafy lichen is the yellow one, circled in  - yellow.

Xanthoria parietina

This one is really common and stands out well.  It has one scientific name (Xanthoria parietina) but plenty of other names as everyone seems to make up their own name: Yellow Crotal, Yellow Wall lichen and even the rather fanciful Maritime Starburst Lichen. It can look greenish when wet or out of the sun.  The yellow colour is a chemical that acts as a sunscreen.  It has grown tiny circular structures (they are called apothecia and are important characteristics if you want to try and ID a lichen). Their function is to produce spores - lichens are in part a fungus and spores are how fungi reproduce.

The final kind of lichen is called a crustose lichen.  This has no leaves at all, just a powdery coating on the bark, but they can also produce those fruiting bodies I called apothecia.  In fact, they are essential to look at if you want to have a hope of naming the lichen.

Jam tarts on two different crustose lichens

One name for these structures is "jam tarts" as they can have an outer rim of one colour (the pastry) and and the inside can be a different colour (the jam).  I am not at the stage where I can name these ones other than to say they are in the group called Lecanora. 

So much to look at in just 15cm(6 inches) of twig.  And I haven't even told you about some of the other lichens!