Well, we don’t have any flowers yet, but we have lichen!

While enjoying and photographing some cliff icicles, my day was brightened up by  many accents of color on the rocks courtesy of the lichens.

These two seem to get along well together; Lemon Lichen (Candelaria councilor), a foliose lichen surrounded by Superficial map lichen (Rhizocarpon superficial), a crust lichen.

Powdered Orange Lichen, (Xanthoria fallax), a leaf lichen

Waiting for a sunny day

Today was cloudy and cool, not snowing, not raining, not really cold, and not sunny, but I decided to visit Buttercup Ridge, a tiny ridge top where this area’s very first buttercups bloom each spring. And this one is ready, just waiting for the next sunny day:

I had visited there on February 4th, and then it had looked like this:

In addition to the Buttercups, in a small clear place amidst the snow that still blankets most of the ridge, I found that Nature has created a tiny arrangement of lichens and winter moss just for the pleasure of anyone who would take the time and make the effort to visit Her special little ridge.

Who would think

that a tropical-appearing scene such as this

would exist in mid-winter on a steep, rock mountainside such as this.

Nature is just full of pleasant surprises. (Photos were taken two minutes apart.)

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Crystal gazing

I would be a fortune teller, wear a headscarf embroidered with “Gypsy Rose” and tell everyone’s fortune, except that my mustache would probably give me away.

However, I did find a cool crystal ball today:

(Actually a drop of melted snow on a club lichen, possibly a Black-foot Cladonia, Cladonia gracilis)

About the photo:
Nikon D80 with Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D lens, 1/60 sec @ f/32, EV -2/3, Manual mode, ISO 400, hand held at about 4 inches. The water drop was less than 1/8 inch diameter.

Club lichens

While I was walking this afternoon in a deep canyon the sun came out very briefly and illuminated the firs and cedars on the south side of the trail, showing off their greenery in a splendid fashion. Being a little slow on the uptake, I got the camera out just a tad too late for the colorful shot. However…

On the other side of the trail, growing among the ice clumps on the steep, north-facing slope of the canyon in a place that never, even in mid summer, receives the direct rays of the sun, was a large patch of lichens, with bright colors of their own: I tentatively identified three of them as club lichens.

Devil’s matchstick (Pilophorus acicularis)

Sulphur cladonia (Cladonia sulphurina)

Horn Cladonia (Cladonia cornuta)

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More on lichens – a word of caution

In the world of outdoor lore, much of which is undocumented or poorly documented, it has always been said that as a survival technique one could boil lichens and make a nourishing broth that would, in a dire situation, sustain life. That is true, but with one major caveat: some lichens are toxic.

After my post yesterday about lichens, I found it interesting to see this story in the news today from Wyoming where several elk have died recently, apparently from eating lichens. This happened in the Red Rim area southwest of Rawlins in the last week. The story goes on to say that in 2004, several hundred elk died from eating a rare form of poisonous lichen in that area. It did not mention the particular lichen involved, but although it can kill elk, antelope can eat it with no ill effects.

If the author of the story had done a little research, he would have found this USDA Forest Service website Celebrating Wildflowers which sheds more light on the same subject. It says a poisonous lichen, “Parmelia molliuscula (also known as “ground lichen”), was determined to be the cause of death for 300 elk in Wyoming in 2004. Visiting elk from Colorado ate this lichen, which caused tissue decay and eventual death. The native elk were not affected, simply because their immune systems were already equipped to deal with this toxic lichen. This is another example of wildlife and plant life evolving with each other. This lichen has also been known to poison sheep and cattle. “Ground lichen” can also be used as a dye for clothing.”

Another poisonous lichen, the Wolf Lichen Letharia vulpina got its name because it was used in Europe to poison wolves and some native American Indian tribes even used it as a poison on arrowheads. Interestingly, other tribes made a tea from it. This particular lichen is very common in my area and until recently I had thought it to be a moss rather than a lichen. In fact, I can see some from our kitchen window growing on a small dead branch in a pine tree in the yard. I find it colorful and attractive, but fortunately I have never had any inclination to eat it. Here are several photos Wolf Lichen that were taken back in January: