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Pulchrocladia ferdinandii

Lacy coral lichen, Biblically-accurate-angel lichen (I made this one up)

Almost forgot that this is the whole point. This fruticose lichen is endemic to southern Australia, where it grows on dry, sandy or acidic soils. It grows in large cushions (15 cm tall, 75 cm wide) of rigid, perforate pseudopodetia. It is whitish-cream to yellowish in color, and isn't known to produce apothecia, but produces globose pycnidia on the irregularly-branching, tips of the pseudopodetia. The official description of this lichen refers to it as "horny," which I am choosing to believe refers to the horn-like structure of the thallus, not to its desire to jump some bones. But if I am mistaken, go off, queen, you can get it. P. ferdinandii looks similar to sister-species P. retipora, but is overall larger, and prefers dryer habitats than the latter. And before you ask no, we don't know why it looks like this, so let's just appreciate that it does and that we are blessed to be able to see it.

images: source

Well, Gem's not just going to eat decorative lichen off someone's base! That would be rude.

She does frequent the lichen shops around the server, though. Maybe some of the farms.

The Boatem Crew Boards The Dream Cruise Ship

A/N : I made some changes to my previous post, Leave a lichen subscribe, if you don’t want to read it again here’s what changed: the entire conversation at the beginning happens between Impulse and Phil instead of Techno and the former, the post happens after the Boatem Neighbours Arc and Impulse builds his shop near Snowchester. It all made much more sense with what I was aiming for this chapter.

Tubbo chuckles through a slight wince as Michael tugs at his hair and points at a bee excitedly, perched on his shoulders.

The air in Snowchester is crisp, but not yet unbearably cold. The temperature is actually quite pleasant, especially with the sunshine pouring from the sky that is somehow strong enough to warm him to a certain extent.

Nevertheless, Tubbo is glad that he and his son are appropriately dressed for the harsh weather.

Today is the first time he’s gathered enough courage to bring Michael outside, having finally completed his securing of the area.

There is officially nothing around that could hurt his kid.

The sweet berry bushes scattered around the area have been uprooted and moved to a walled-off location since they could easily kill Michael. Similarly, the vines from the Egg have been removed. Only difference being that he didn’t bother replanting said red nuisance of a weed.

Not only that but the area around Snowchester has been completely spawn proofed with the aid of double layers of snow and a generous amount of torches. It goes on for a hundred block radius around the place, which might be overboard, but as they say, safety should always come first.

It’s a saying he ought to apply for once.

“Look! Papa! A tree!” Squeals the little undead piglin as they walk down the path that is still bordered with cake.

Tubbo can’t help but respond by moving closer to said tree. He smiles fondly when Michael reaches out and runs his tiny hands across the branches of the pine tree that caught his attention.

“This is a spruce tree, Michael. Can you repeat that word for me sweetheart?”

His son nods vigorously which sends his ear flopping around below the hem of his bee patterned woolen hat. Tubbo just about melts at how adorable a sight it is, a soft smile blooming across his scarred face. Damn he loves his kid so damn much. “Hmhm! Spru-ce! Spruce!”

“Good job little guy.” He praises wholeheartedly as he ruffles the small undead piglin’s fur. He goes to say something else, but cuts himself off when he catches sight of a new building located along the trottend path that leads towards or away from Snowchester, depending on one’s perspective.

His eyes narrow when he spots an unfamiliar person standing next to the building.

Approaching them cautiously he notices their rather wonky fashion sense. They are wearing a long and flashy yellow coat that flares around their ankles as they take a few steps back to admire the temple-like building with a satisfied grin. Said coat is paired with a purple bowtie, a stylish black top hat decorated with a bright yellow ribbon, and a black shirt with a yellow i on it.

Approaching the man carefully, he lifts Michael off his shoulders and plops him gently on the snow covered ground. With that taken care of, he tugs his son to safety with a guiding hand clasped on the zombie piglin’s shoulder. Once his son is safely tucked behind his legs, Tubbo equips his best sword and points it towards the stranger.

“Who are you and what are you doing on my property?” He demands sharply, not in the mood to play nice when his son’s life could be on the line.

Master list for this au and rough Timeline :)

Dibaeis absoluta

OK, so why does this lichen look like it is growing mushrooms, even though these are decidedly not mushrooms? My first answer is "just to fuck with you," but D. absoluta evolved long before humankind, nonetheless you specifically. So my second answer is because the mushroom shape just makes functional sense when you want to produce a fruiting body by maximizing the physical area that produces spores, and raising them above the substrate by a thin stalk so they can get caught in and distributed by wind. Ok, so they are the spore producing structure of fungi, shaped like that, how are they not mushrooms? Mushrooms are we typically think of them are the reproductive structures of basidiomycete fungi, the spores are typically released from the lower surface of the fruiting bodies like this:

And in an ascocarp, the reproductive structure of an ascomycete fungi like that of D. absoluta, the spores are released from the upper surface of the fruiting bodies. So like this:

OK this is waaayyy simplified. There are also a bunch of internal physiological differences but you, dear reader, can look those up yourself if you are curious about the nuances of fungal development. But very generally speaking, basidiospores come out the bottom, ascospores come out the top.

So not tiny mushrooms, but very very cute just as they are!

Usnea quasirigida

I've got sunshine . . . on a cloudy day. When it's cold outside, I've got Usnea quasirigid-day! OK it doesn't exactly work, but close enough for me! This adorable fruticose lichen has a pendant to bushy, dark- to bright-green thallus of thin branches covered in lateral fibrils. The ends of the branches are capped with rounded apothecia surrounded in a radiating margin of fibrils. U. quasirigida grows on coniferous trees in submontane regions, and while it has largely been accepted as a distinct species in NW North America, it is synonymized with U. intermedia in Europe, which obscures its range and habitat preferences somewhat. It's never easy with these guys, I'll tell ya. That doesn't change the fact that he is a sunshiney little pal and I enjoy seeing him.

images: source