Online Articles
about nature - by Boyd
Shaffer,
artist /naturalist
Observations
of a Naturalist
This Article: Those Amazing Lichens - continued (pg 2 of 5) PAGES: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Description:
Thallus light yellow or greenish.
Apothecia (A) large, on the undersides
of the tips of each lobe. This species
has a tendency to curl up near the
tips. Habitat/s:
Found on soil and in mixed woods
on moss. Range:
Common near Richardson Highway, and has
been collected south through the
Matanuska Valley and in the Kenai
National Wildlife Refuge. Description:
Thallus creased, crowded, and light
brown or white with darker undersides.
It varies in form and the size of its
colonies. Habitat/s:
Wherever limestone is found in
damp environments. Range:
All of South Central Alaska Description:
Thallus light brownish green to bright
green above when wet, and (1) is view
of a piece of thallus showing the
underside. Habitat/s:
Growing on trunks of poplars and
spruce. Range:
All of South Central Alaska Description:
Thallus light gray to brownish when
dry, greenish when wet. Resembles L.
pulmonaria but lacks soredia (Usually
raised, rounded, vegetative
propagules). along the thallus
ridges. Habitat/s:
Same as L. pulmonaria. Range:
All of South Central Alaska Description:
Thallus light gray, never greenish,
but with pronounced ridges running over
the surface, each covered with raised
soredia. Habitat/s:
It is found on Spruce and Hemlock limbs
and twigs. The color and shape,
including the ridges, makes this an
easy lichen to identify. Range:
All of South Central Alaska Description:
This lichen is so named because the
lobes resembles the mitre of a false
morel, Helvetica. It is fluted, very
dark, and often black. Habitat/s:
Grows on the northern sides of
Populus, (cottonwood and aspen). It can
sometimes be found on standing dead
spruce. The size is quite small, each
thallus being about one to one and one
half inches wide. Range:
All of South Central Alaska. More
common in the southern
section. Description:
Thallus lobes are chestnut brown above
and light brown below. The entire plant
is about one inch wide. Habitat/s:
Lower dead branches of spruce, on
rocks, and occasionally on shaded
gravel. Range:
All of South Central Alaska Description:
Thallus lobes are light gray to
dark gray or buff when wet. It appears
nearly white when dry and in direct
sunlight. Soralia is conspicuous
dotting the upper surface. The lobes
are about one inch wide. Habitat/s:
Spruce and aspen bark, often found
on both sunny and shaded sides of
trees. Range:
All of South Central Alaska Description:
Thallus intensely black, having
many very small broad lobes. This
lichen can be seen from a distance as
small black areas on light tree
bark. Habitat/s:
Extremely abundant on aspens. There is
another black species (Collema nigrens)
which is much smaller. Range:
All of South Central Alaska Description:
Yellowish to ash gray with coarse
isidia granules (very small rounded
finger-like outgrowths on the thallus).
The inner cortex of the thallus turns
yellow when lye solution is applied
(use microscope). Habitat/s:
Grows rather closely attached to
the surface of dead spruce limbs and
bark. It is often found growing on
rocks. Range:
All of South Central Alaska Description:
Thallus light gray with numerous black
or dark brown apothecia growing within
a group of smooth thalli. Thallus
rather tightly attached to bark and
having a few hair-like rhizines
underneath. Habitat/s:
Primarily on the barks of
deciduous trees. Range:
All of South Central Alaska Description:
Loosely attached to bark. Ashy
gray when wet or dry with occasional
yellowish green areas on some
specimens. Thallus appears to be
composed of tubes with black edges and
is black underneath. Habitat/s:
Grows on both living and dead tree
limbs of many species. Range:
All of South Central Alaska. More
common in the southern
section.
OBSERVATIONS
INDEX
Lichens PAGES:
1
- 2 - 3
- 4
- 5
Name: Nephroma
arcticum (Figure about life
size)
Name:
Dermattocarpon miniatum Figure life
size
Group
2. Thallus broad, often leaf-like, growing on tree
limbs, bark or rocks.
Name:
Lobaria pulmonaria
It can be identified further by a cut
section becoming yellow when subjected
to Lye solution (a drop of Liquid
Plumber), indicating the presence of
stictic acid. The shape, thought to
resemble a lung, was used to treat lung
illnesses years ago. (It didn't
work).
Name:
Lobaria limita
Name:
Platismatia lacunosa
Name:
Nephroma helveticum
Name:
Nephroma parile
Name:
Parmotrema dilatatum
Name:
Collema fragrans
Group
3. Thallus with many spreading dissected lobes,
growing on trees rocks and moss.
Name:
Parmelia saxatilis
Name:
Physcia stellaris (shown twice
natural size)
- Continued
on PAGE 3
-
Name:
Hypogymnia enteromorpha (about life
size)