#not moss

I have decided moss will be on hold until staff roll back the changes to notes. This is part of my system's effort to use Tumblr less as a way of protesting these changes.

People smarter than me have written good posts about why this is such a problem. People are calling for a boycott on April 1st, and of any gags the staff might roll out as part of it. People are also emphasising the importance of continuing to give feedback on this in the coming weeks - they are betting on the backlash dying down over time, but with such a site-breaking feature, we can't afford to roll over.

I appreciate this probably seems dramatic coming from what is essentially a niche aesthetic blog, but as a trans person who primarily uses this site as a small artist, and to support other artists, writers, and creatives, this is devastating. We've been on Tumblr since 2012, and over the last 8 years, it's become an increasingly uncomfortable and unsafe environment, run by people who do not have the best interests of their community in mind. For me in particular, this is where I'm calling it.

Anzina carneonivea

This crustose lichen has a thin, white-gray thallus that grows on acidic wood, bark, and detritus in boreal-montane habitats. It has wart-like apothecia with immersed yellow-brown or orange discs, often growing together in confluent clumps. It has a green algal, Asterochloris photobiont.

images: source | source

Ramalina menziesii 

Lace lichen

Honestly, I’ve been resisting posting this lichen. I have made a number of posts which I then deleted and started over because I just could not find the right images to perfectly capture all the incredible aspects of R. menziesii--the delicate beauty, all the scientific research, the geometric complexity, the giant swarms it forms as it covers and tree from top to bottom enshrouding it in darkness, the color--it’s just so amazing!

R. menziesii is fruticose, pendulous, and can grow over 50 cm long. It forms those very distinctive branches with net-like fenestrations along the flattened lobes. The color is a silver-green when dry, bright yellow-green when moist. Linear pseudocyphellae (pores in the thallus where medulary hyphae poke through) are common, as are lecanorine apothecia which are the same color as the thallus. R. menziesii grows exclusively on wood, and can form long, dense, conspicuous colonies. Sadly for me, this lichen only grows in North America (it is the state lichen of California [the only state with a state lichen]), so it’ll be awhile before I can go out searching for this pal. Indigenous people (such as the Kashaya Pomo people) have historically used lace lichen for fiber, baby diaper filling, and sanitary products. It is also an important food source for coastal deer, and is used as nesting material for birds. Basically, this lichen is super important. And stunning. And amazing. I can’t say enough, so I will stop here. 

Follow for more incredible lichens! 

Cladonia caespiticia

Not gonna lie, I think I have a crush on C. caespiticia. It is solely based on appearances, but have you ever seen something more adorable? This little Cladoniacea is so teeny tiny, only reaching about 7 mm in height. The incised basal squamules form dense cushions or mats of pale or grayish green. Typically, Cladonia lichens are recognized by their long-stalked, podetial apothecia. However, in C. caespiticia, apothecia can be either stipate (growing from an anchor on the thallus surface) or pseudopodetiate (functions like a podetia, but is made of a different fungal tissue). The stalks are short and translucent-white, and the bulbous apothecia at the end are pinkish or reddish brown. C. caespiticia is fairly rare, but can be found in old growth forests in Europe and eastern North America. It typically colonizes moss, peat, and rotting wood or bark in moist areas and embankments. We must protect her at all costs! Conserve old growth forests! There are lots of important ecological and historical reasons to conserve old growth forests as well, but also do it to protect me from heartbreak if nothing else will sway you. 

Pleopsidium flavum

Golden cobblestone lichen

The shockingly neon pal you see here is P. flavum! It grows in round patches up to 6cm in diameter. The thallus surface is made up of irregular, mosaic-like areoles surrounded in a marginal rim of round lobes. It is a bright lemon or greenish yellow in coloration, shiny toward the margins and becoming more rough toward the center. Apothecia are small, immersed, and concolorous with the thallus surface. P. flavum colonizes acidic boulder and cliff faces in montane, alpine, and arctic regions of North America and Europe. It particularly prefers to grow on the underside of granite overhangs, but luckily that safety-vest color makes it easy to spot. 

Niebla cephalota (syn. Vermilacinia cephalota)

Powdery sea-fog lichen

I love Niebla lichens! They are like, puffy little fungus tribbles. N. cephalota is fruticose and caespitose with 2-4 cm long branches either erect or drooping. The thallus is a smooth or finely wrinkled pale green dotted with pale soredia and dark maculae. The pale apothecia form flat disks at the end of branches, and are up to 1 mm in diameter. N. cephalota usually grows on wood, but will occasionally colonize rocks. Its range is restricted to the N. American west coast. The name Niebla is the Spanish word for “fog,” referring the the fact that this genus is found in the fog zones of the N. American coast. A gorgeous species! I want to give one the gentlest pat.