It’s time for lichens

It’s a beautiful morning here at Whitefish Point. The first clear morning since we’ve up here this month. Clear at this time of year means cold. As I am sitting here and writing it’s 28F and fortunately with very very little wind.

Yesterday on our walk to the point it was obvious that lichens were everywhere. For years I’ve been interested in this little symbiotic organisms. They’re a combination of fungal cells and algal cells.

Lichens growing on trees. Fringed wrinkle-lichen in the center on the left, Burred horsehair lichen on the right. I like the horsehair lichens, they’r like the dark brown versions of the old man’s beard lichens. More on thise in the future.

Poplar sunburst lichen on the left, the yellow lichen between an array of other lichens. Trumpet lichens on the right.

British soldiers lichen on the left. Sand-loving Iceland lichen on the right.

Up close photo of the British soldiers.

Rock foam lichen on the left, which does look like foam from a distance. Red-fringed pixie-cup in the center right, surrounded by several other green and red British soldier-type lichens.

One of the pixie-cup lichens.

More later…