#lichenhrope

Chaenotheca brachypoda

Ooooo look at those teeny-weeny lil pins! Not a lot of info on this precious babe, but I needed everyone to see her anyway. C. brachypodda is a pin lichen that forms a superficial, crustose thallus and stalked apothecia. In this particular species, the capitulum (the head of the apothecia) is rounded, brown, and covered in yellow-green pruina, and the greenish thallus is immersed and not typically visible. It prefers to colonize cracks in the bark of deciduous trees (Alnus, Fraxinus, and Salix). Little lichens never get enough attention, but just look how cute C. brachypoda is! A precious lil babe. 

Psora nipponica

Butterfly Scale Lichen

I am ready for spring, y’all. This winter has been cold and dreary and the world is in shambles and I just want to go outside and sit in the sun and listen to the birds and feel the soft breeze . . . but we’re not there yet. So to lighten up the mood, here is a springy lichen for us all to enjoy: P. nopponica! The butterfly scale lichen! This squamulose lichen forms elongated, concave lobes up to 10 mm wide. The upper surface of the lobes can be smooth or fissured, and comes in olive, russet, tan, or brown, whereas the lower surface and lobe margins are pale tan to white. Tucked in between the folded lobes are the spherical, black apothecia clumped together in lil bunches. P. nipponica is found in western North America Eastern Asia. It colonizes shady soil or rock crevices at high elevations between 1380 and 3540 m. To high up for me to hike to at the moment, but come the nice weather and you’ll find me out there saying high to all the bright little lichen friends like P. nipponica!