#umbilicaria

Umbilicaria lyngei

Puckered rocktripe lichen

This umbilicate-foliose lichen grows in roundish, singular, up to 3.5 cm broad lobes attached to the substrate by a single, central holdfast. The upper surface is wrinkled-reticulate, dark-brown to black with pale pruina frosting the reticulate ridges, and the lower surface is black. It only rarely produces apothecia, which are black with gryrose discs. U. lyngei grows on rock in arctic and occasionally alpine North America.

images: source | source

The underside of this lichen has some textures!

Upper surface: also textures. <3

I think this one is Umbilicaria torrefacta, growing on exposed rocks in a montane environment.

Walk with me: a Central Appalachian forest in December. Winter is fast approaching, much to my relief. While some hide away in warm, cozy nooks, my old bones seek forest paths illuminated by sunlit snow, where I am reminded that life persists in the harshest conditions - by birds flitting silently in the underbrush and crisscrossing animal tracks that memorialize, however temporarily, the unending survival chores of the forest community. In the frozen stillness and quiet introspection of the deepest woods on a Winter afternoon, I am renewed by nature's relentless life pulse, beating against all odds, and cherish it even more.

Photos from Scott Run Trail in Coopers Rock State Forest.

First test dye has been on 32g of unmordanted wool which was added to hot water with about one tablespoon of the extraction liquid and left in a jar on a windowsil for about a day.

It has come out to be a lovely shade of mauve so far. I have added mordanted fibre and aome more extraction liquid to see how that goes, will update when that gets here.

Umbilicaria sp

Mértola/Portugal (23/04/2024)

Umbilicaria krascheninnikovii

Lesser salty rocktripe

I mean, as far as insults go, calling someone a lesser salty rocktripe will at least get you points for creativity.

Umbilicaria vellea

Grizzled rocktripe