Hypogymnia farinacea

Gray-powdered tube lichen

This foliose lichen has puffy, inflated lobes that grow in rosettes up to 10cm in diameter. The upper surface of the lobes is a patchy pale green-gray in color, and is wrinkled in texture. It produces numerous yellow-green soredia out of long, linear cracks along the ridges of the lobe wrinkles. The lobe edges are brown, and the lower surface is black. It rarely produces apothecia, which are short-stalked and have a concave, brownish-red disc. H. farinacea grows on bark and wood in boreal-montane forests in Europe and North America.

images: source | source | source

info: source | source | source

Conifer with various lichens growing on its bark.

Cladonia sp., Icmadophila ericetorum, Sphaerophorus tuckermanii, Hypogymnia sp.

Cowichan River valley, BC, Canada. March 12, 2024.

Lichens and a moss (on the second picture) in the forests of Värmland, Sweden (January 26, 2018).

Imshaug's Tube Lichen (Hypogymnia imshaugii) with apothecia

Lichen sketch - forked tube lichen AKA Hypogymnia imshaugii, from a photo by Jason Hollinger

First round of lichen collection and ID attempts after trimming some crap off the driveway spruce. Something (probably Sphaerophorus), Usnea of course, a Tuckerman(n)opsis (couldn’t do that one myself, had to get help from an expert, who said ID to species is unlikely), Hypogymnia physodes (it is, that photo just doesn’t show the exploding lobe tips. Shoosh, it was my prettiest photo of it.) and of course Menegazzia subsimilis. I have a lot of Menegazzia on this tree (probably all subsimilis)! I think that one and the Tuckermanopsis are the two most likely to be interesting. The Sphaerophorus MIGHT be, I personally think it seems like venerabilis or at least “not tuckermanii” so it may at least not be cosmopolitan.

I’ll be saving the samples, even if they’re all small and not ideal for ID purposes. I’ll need to continue thinking what to do in case the tree has to come down - I see that a lot of lichens are growing on one particular exposed dead branch thats only a few feet up, so that could be moved and kept at a similar height.

The reason I’m concerned is there don’t really seem to be other mature spruce in this area and I think that is one is probably in the 300 year old range. Like, not a giant, but the two driveway trees are about the same diameter (the other is a western redcedar) and they are among the biggest in the area by a decent margin. Like you know how you get kinda… age brackets depending when an area was logged and what they left, so you might have a lot of 20 year old trees and some 100-150 year old trees and a few 300+ year old trees and not much in between those brackets? These are in the biggest, oldest bracket in their immediate area. And there are other old western redcedars but there isn’t much spruce to begin with.

Also, this is the spruce that’s getting hit hard by the gall adelgids, thanks to the abundance of Douglas fir and the relative rarity of spruce hosts.

Another page of chaparral lichens; getting to know them for my work at Stebbins Cold Canyon after the fire. #lichen #flattenedthornbushlichen #kaernefeltiamerrillii #smalllobedtubelichen #hypogymniaminilobata #hypogymnia #frostlichen #physconia #chaparralyellowsootlichen #cyphelium #cypheliumbrachysporum #hopefulbeardlichen #usnea #usneaesperantia #chaparralsunkendisklichen #aspicilia #aspiciliaconfusa #sciart #chaparral https://www.instagram.com/p/BtT0ZqogaFK/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1nnjxk4s95r3u

Hypogymnia heterophylla

Seaside bone lichen

My favorite thing about Halloween? Skeletons! I love skeletons, I love bones, I love skulls, I love memento mori, I love the complexity of millions of years of evolution and ecology and the cycle of life and death and returning to nature and uh! It just gets me. But, obviously, liches don’t have a skeleton, or bones. So I will just have to settle for lichens that vaguely look like bones to get my spooky-scary-skeleton-lichen Halloween fix! H. heterophylla is a foliose-fruticose lichen that can only be found on the Pacific coast of North America. It has long, inflated, cartilaginous lobes with irregular branching patterns. The upper surface is pale gray or gray-green, and perforated with small black pores (pycnidia). The edges of the thallus are black, as is the perforated lower surface. It produces short-stalked, urn-shaped apothecia with a concave brown disc. H. heterophylla grows on conifer bark in coastal habitats ranging only from southern British Columbia down to central California. Due to its limited range, it is considered a threatened species in Canada, and action plans for conservation are in place for the 7 colonies present there. If the thought of losing a beautiful friend like this to climate change and urbanization doesn’t scare you, I don’t know what will! 

images: source | source | source

info: source | source

Vast and Cool and Unsympathetic by Ken-ichi on Flickr.

Nice cluster of Usnea longissima with what looks like Hypogymnia sp. from a recent hike.

LIchen, Hypogymnia sp. by Chaerea Via Flickr:

Lichen community on douglas fir cone by Richard Droker Via Flickr: Hypogymnia physodes, Usnea sp., Parmelia sulcata, Melano..., Lecanora sp., Chrysothrix granulosa micro checks - Buellia (aka Amandinea) punctata

My lichen photos by genus - www.flickr.com/photos/29750062@N06/collections/7215762439... my photos arranged by subject, e.g. mountains - www.flickr.com/photos/29750062@N06/collections

Hypogymnia imshaugii