Something I have taken a lichen to

 The winter season, when plants are not flowering, birds are not nesting, butterflies are not present, etc., is no better time to take advantage of exploring another group of organisms. Lichens! They are everywhere! Indeed many surfaces exposed to the out-of-doors will have some form of lichen on them, anything from tree trunks and branches, to stones, to building materials, steel posts, etc, if they are out long enough.

I admit that back in my university days, the topic of lichens came up in some botanically related courses, but that was many decades ago! And is spite of my interest in the natural world, I haven't given them a lot of thought over the years. Sure, I knew they were out there, and glanced at them from time to time, but never gave them their due.

Over the past couple of months, I have sometimes purposely left my telephoto lens in the vehicle, and taken my camera with macro lens and flash, to look for lichens.

Here are a few:

Candleflame Lichen

Cinder Lichen

Common Dusk Lichen

These next two are the same, known as Common Greenshield Lichen. Individual lichens can vary, due to the relationship between the fungus and alga.

This next one is the same kind as the one at the top, known as Common Script Lichen, quite an appropriate name in my opinion.

Eastern Speckled Shield Lichen

Lichens are not parasitic on the tree or whatever they are growing on. They are just using it as a surface to attach to. And technically they are not plants in the normal sense.

There can be several kinds on the same surface as shown in the next two photos. Some tree trunks are quite covered with spreading masses of lichen.

In other situations, there may be multiple 'individual' lichens scattered on the trunk.

Mapledust Lichen

New York Scalewort

Orange-cored Shadow Lichen

Powder-tipped Shadow Lichen

Powdery Goldspeck

Rim Lichen

Rough Speckled Shield Lichen

In spite of the overall abundance of lichens, of which there are supposedly around 20,000 species around the world, some are considered rare. This next one, shown in both photos, is called Speckled Blister Lichen, and according to the Natural Heritage Information Centre which keeps track of rare species in Ontario, it is rare in the province. In Canada, it is most abundant in Ontario, but does occur in provinces to the east. While I have photographed it several times at Rondeau, I have so far only found it along one trail. Like many lichens, its appearance can vary.

I am fairly confident that most of the lichens featured above are properly identified. Speckled Blister Lichen, of which I posted several photos on iNaturalist, were all confirmed by lichen experts. INaturalist was certainly helpful overall for that one and others. However there are some which may not be yet correctly identified, so there may be updates!

While looking for lichens, I come across other things that get my attention, but are not lichens. Some fungus can look surprisingly lichen-like. This first one is Ceramic Parchment, a fungus, as are the following two.

Ceramic Parchment close-up

Rosy Crust

Milk-white Toothed Polyphore

And finally, this one is apparently a member of the algae.

Orange Rock Hair

The world of nature is full of fascinating elements. I used to have the following statement as the trailer on my work email: "The more you know, the more you realize you don't know." It is nice to know one can never run out of things to learn about in nature! While I haven't explained a lot about lichens in this post due to my overall limited understanding of them, Wikipedia has a fascinating description of the complexity of lichens. Their ecological role in the natural world is incredible. If you want to learn more, check it out here.

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