Lecidea laboriosa
Industrious disc lichen
I often wonder how some lichens got their specific epithet. I mean some are obviously descriptive of a trait or locality or habit, but what is it about L. laboriosa that makes it seem like it performs a notable amount of labor? So I looked up the original species description published by Johannes Müller Argoviensis in 1874 (Flora, Regensburg 57: 187 (1874)), and of course it's written in Latin as was the standard of the time. Even with my extremely limited botanical Latin knowledge, I can't see any reason given for the chosen epithet, so I did my due-diligence, and now I can simply guess! I think it got its name from its endolithic thallus embedded in the surface of its siliceous rock substrate. To me, that suggests a certain amount of effort, as shoving hyphae and photobiont cells in-between rock grains has to be labor-intensive, slow-going. But is it less intense to use environmental material to shade and protect your photobiont cells, or to build a multi-level, light filtering thallus yourself like other Lecidea species? Hmmm, a question for the ages. Either way, immersing that thallus in its substrate works for our pal L. laboriosa here, and I am happy to give him the credit for a job well done.
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