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Fungi & Lichens


Turtle

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moontan!? got yer ears on? i think i have one of your liverworts. :clue: i was actually photographing the white lichen/fungus before i noticed these. :clue:

 

so i think a leafy liverwort, probably genus Porella, possibly species navicularis.

 

leafy liverwort - possibly Porella navicularis?

february 15, 2012

lacamas heritage trail

clark county washington

 

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We gots all sorts of cool stuff in the woods here, tenticles, anenomies (spiny ball tentically things) slimers, ears of all sorts and even a few very tasty varieties.

 

 

MMMMMMMMMMMM liverwort.....on toast!

 

well let's get sanppin then. :photos: :whip-new: :D

 

i think the liverworts are edible insofar as they aren't toxic that i have seen yet. :read: i have seen a couple sources saying specifically that american indians did not eat them. :naughty: the deer do though. :xmas_rudolph: anyway, got another lichen from today id'd to my satisfaction. yours' too if ya know what's good for you. :oh_really: just kiddin'. :circle: notice there is also another, or possibly the same, leafy liverwort growing with this lichen. :clue:

 

tree-flute lichen - Menegazzia terebrata

february 15, 2012

gowing on bark of understory tree

lacamas heritage trail

clark county washington

 

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moontan!? got yer ears on? i think i have one of your liverworts. :clue: i was actually photographing the white lichen/fungus before i noticed these. :clue:

 

so i think a leafy liverwort, probably genus Porella, possibly species navicularis.

 

leafy liverwort - possibly Porella navicularis?

february 15, 2012

lacamas heritage trail

clark county washington

 

 

 

It does have the characteristics of a liver wort but I am not familiar with that particular species. I am more familiar with the flat types. Don't you live near a temperate rain forest? Lots of interesting fungi there, do you collect mushrooms to eat? i love wild mushrooms, sauteed in a little olive oil and butter, great eating! Avoid the ones that grow out of cow dung unless you want to take a trip and never leave the house...

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It does have the characteristics of a liver wort but I am not familiar with that particular species. I am more familiar with the flat types. Don't you live near a temperate rain forest? Lots of interesting fungi there, do you collect mushrooms to eat? i love wild mushrooms, sauteed in a little olive oil and butter, great eating! Avoid the ones that grow out of cow dung unless you want to take a trip and never leave the house...

the id is the best i found after several hours hunting. i will make corrections if need be.

 

yes, i live a couple hundred miles from olympic national forest.

 

Bryophytes and Lichens: Small but Indispensable Forest Dwellers

...

Special Species Discovered on the Olympic Peninsula.

 

Some rare bryophyte and lichen species have been found recently in and near Olympic National Park, northwestern Washington. ...

i'm hugging the foothills of the cascades where i am and we do get plenty of wet and have a variety of ecosystems. the trail i am visiting is a mixed hardwood forest dominated by garry oak and oregon ash.

 

the only mushroom i can id & will eat is the bolete. i think they are out in fall if i recall.

 

get us some shots will you moon'ster?

Edited by Turtle
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well let's get sanppin then. :photos: :whip-new: :D

 

i think the liverworts are edible insofar as they aren't toxic that i have seen yet. :read: i have seen a couple sources saying specifically that american indians did not eat them. :naughty: the deer do though. :xmas_rudolph: anyway, got another lichen from today id'd to my satisfaction. yours' too if ya know what's good for you. :oh_really: just kiddin'. :circle: notice there is also another, or possibly the same, leafy liverwort growing with this lichen. :clue:

 

tree-flute lichen - Menegazzia terebrata

february 15, 2012

gowing on bark of understory tree

lacamas heritage trail

clark county washington

 

T'was a half baked pun my soft shelled friend. Not much of a fan of fungi....but very fond of processed meaty animal bits ;)

 

Would gladly try morells or truffles. I do enjoy bracket type fungi tho...not the side effects on occasion (carefull selection and prep are a must!!!)...like pretenda meat type fungi as well...but they are very hard to get round here.

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T'was a half baked pun my soft shelled friend. Not much of a fan of fungi....but very fond of processed meaty animal bits ;)

 

Would gladly try morells or truffles. I do enjoy bracket type fungi tho...not the side effects on occasion (carefull selection and prep are a must!!!)...like pretenda meat type fungi as well...but they are very hard to get round here.

 

puns then? i'm lichen it. you're such a fun-guy. you don't leave musch room for a comeback. it would probably be a display of pore morels for me to make any puns. :doh: :D

 

by and large i'm just out to take photographs and learn a bunch of names & information that i can later wish i could remember but can look up here when i don't...remember. :photos: :reallyconfused: :daydreaming: :sherlock:

 

just so, i find they have 3 main classes of lichens.

foliose (leaf-like)

fruticose (shrub-like)

crustose (closely attached to a surface)

 

:turtle: this one that i shot yesterday is of the crustose persuasion and includes fruiting bodies. :clue: i also see that investigators have found that some lichens can reproduce both sexually and asexually, but the fruiting bodies tell this tale and until or unless i id this particual species i can't say what exact reproduction process is going on here. oh, they/it /were was growing on on a dead tree the species of which i failed to note. :kick:

 

crustose lichen -?

february 15, 2012

lacamas heritage trail

clark county washington

 

Edited by Turtle
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Too funny!:D Never seen lichen with buds like that before....wonder if it's due to locale or timing? Prolly just my lousy sight. Wish I was at camp I'd post pics of some pretty impressive growths!

 

i suspect it is both locale and timing. first the lichen has to "be there", second, since they are sensitive to air pollution they need clean air, and third -as far i have read- they need moisture from fog and/or rain. unlike leaves, lichens do not retain water well and quickly dry up and go dormant. i can't say i ever noticed the "buds"/cups either, but now i am there, they are there, clean is air, it is wet, i am looking, and i have a camera and know how to use it. :cap: :tree: :fan: :rainumbrella: :clue: :photos: i found that the term for the "buds" is apothecium.

 

lichen lore @ colorado lichen lovers

Fast Facts: Fun Things to Know about Lichens

• There may be as many as 17,000 known species of lichens.

 

• Lichenized fungi occur in 16 orders of ascomycetes, and five of these fungal orders have no free-living species.

 

• A few lichens are formed with a basidiomycete as the fungal partner; these produce mushroom-shaped fruiting structures.

The lichenization process has evolved independently several times.

 

• Some lichens live more than 1,000 years, and ephemeral lichens are rare.

 

• More than 50% percent of lichen species contain substances with antibiotic properties; lichens have been (and still are!) widely used medicinally, both internally and externally applied.

 

• Lichens are excellent bioindicators of air pollution, and also accumulate metals and organic pollutants, enabling us to document deposition of such substances by analyzing lichen composition.

...

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Hmmmm....must not get the fungal partner round here....lots of lichen though...prolly cuz we have a very damp climate....as to pollution being a factor....I dunno....I've seen it grow in some pretty nasty places....can't wait for summer...will have to remember to get some snaps of the more bizzare things in our woods round here.

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Hmmmm....must not get the fungal partner round here....lots of lichen though...

 

i may not have presented that well. :doh: all lichens, to be lichen, have a fungal part and one or more algal parts. (the fun-fact "• Lichenized fungi occur in 16 orders of ascomycetes, and five of these fungal orders have no free-living species. " is just saying that ~31% of all lichens have partners that cannot live without each other, and so ~69% of all lichens do have partners than can live apart.

 

what are lichens

Lichens are made up of two, and some times three, different organisms from three different Kingdoms, which form a symbiotic relationship with each other for their mutual survival.

 

The dominant member is a ascomycetous fungus (Kingdom Fungi), which is capable of making it's own food. The fungus forms the visible portion of lichen inside of which, and protected by them, are cells of an algae (kingdom Protista) or some times cyanobacteria (Kingdom Monera), once known as blue-green algae. Some lichen can consist of all three organisms at once.

 

The algae provide nutrients, as they contain the pigment chlorophyll, which it uses during photosynthesis to produce carbohydrates the same way as green plants do. Thus the fungus obtains nutrients from the algae, the fungal tissue in turn provides shelter for the algae allowing it to grow in harsh conditions such as rock surfaces where it would otherwise be destroyed. ....

 

... prolly cuz we have a very damp climate....as to pollution being a factor....I dunno....I've seen it grow in some pretty nasty places....can't wait for summer...will have to remember to get some snaps of the more bizzare things in our woods round here.

 

looking a bit further i find lichens can & do live in deserts and inhospitable environs, contrary to what i thought and implied earlier. :loser: :oh_really: while "moist environment" may be necessary for "activating" some of the lichens i am finding and that you have there, "moist environment" it seems is not necessary to find some lichen.

 

... Lichens can live on soil, woody debris, rocks, tree bark, tree leaves, other lichens, desert sand, animal bones, and rusty metal. For this reason they are nature's pioneers. Been first to colonise the most inhospitable places from there they begin the slow process of creating the foundation for other habitation.

 

How They survive ?

 

To assist their survival in such inhospitable conditions, lichens are able to shut down metabolically during periods of unfavourable conditions then with the appropriate amount of light and moisture, clean air, and freedom from competition, lichens will continue to grow. Most lichens grow very slowly, often less than a millimetre per year.

 

Another method that helps with there survival is that lichens can produce an arsenal of more than 500 unique biochemical compounds that serve to control light exposure, repel herbivores, kill attacking microbes, and discourage competition from plants.

 

 

the pollution bit i have found is very particular (air-pollution pun ;)) to specific species and their chemical analysis in a lab as well as growth habit and/or speed observed in the field. i don't know enough other than to make a general statement as i did. consult your local lichenologist or university extension service. :phone:

 

looking forward to your pics. :photos: that is all. ... for now. :coffee_n_pc:

Edited by Turtle
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• A few lichens are formed with a basidiomycete as the fungal partner; these produce mushroom-shaped fruiting structures.

The lichenization process has evolved independently several times.

The....well this...from the quote....perhaps it's not the presentation so much as the reader's lack of understanding.;) Edited by DFINITLYDISTRUBD
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The....well this...from the quote....perhaps it's not the presentation so much as the reader's lack of understanding.;)

 

roger. some lichens have fruiting bodies that are like mushrooms and have gills is what i get then. for my id'ing i am just going through the pictures one at a time at a couple good links and waiting to stumble on -or not- a picture that looks like what i got. it's slow, but i'm a turtle. :turtle:

 

so, here's another from yesterday, growing on a tree but a live one i think. pretty sure it was an oak, but with no leaves yet it's hard to tell if it's alive. the beaver i noticed have girdled quite a few of the oaks. :rant: in my view there is not enough room for the beaver there in the midst of suburbia & they should be removed before they kill all the oaks in these few remaining strips of mature mixed hardwood forest along the creek & trail. :soapbox:

 

oh yeah; the lichen. :clue:

 

foliose lichen - ?

february 15, 2012

lacamas heritage trail

clark county washington

 

Edited by Turtle
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here's another crustose lichen with apothecium. :photos: this one was growing on an understory tree; most likely alder, indian plum, or vine maple. while this specimen is very similar to the other crustose lichen i just posted, the inside of the apothecium (fruiting body cups) on this one appear white and on the other tan. :clue: ....i think.... :crazy:

 

oh; would some of you with photos in the gallery try the edit function? :please: it's not working for me. :doh: the edit screen flashes by and i'm returned to the main page. :blink:

 

here's that crusto.

 

crustose lichen 03 - ?

february 15, 2012

lacamas heritage trail

clark county washington

 

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roger. some lichens have fruiting bodies that are like mushrooms and have gills is what i get then. for my id'ing i am just going through the pictures one at a time at a couple good links and waiting to stumble on -or not- a picture that looks like what i got. it's slow, but i'm a turtle. :turtle:

 

so, here's another from yesterday, growing on a tree but a live one i think. pretty sure it was an oak, but with no leaves yet it's hard to tell if it's alive. the beaver i noticed have girdled quite a few of the oaks. :rant: in my view there is not enough room for the beaver there in the midst of suburbia & they should be removed before they kill all the oaks in these few remaining strips of mature mixed hardwood forest along the creek & trail. :soapbox:

 

oh yeah; the lichen. :clue:

 

foliose lichen - ?

february 15, 2012

lacamas heritage trail

clark county washington

 

that looks like foliose to me- got a pic yesterday of some

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