A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
White lichen with red inside. 6 cm long and 4 cm wide
Growing on bark of tree in a semi shaded area in Sivermine Nature Reserve Western Cape.
crustose lichen Leproloma vouauxii - leaning towards this ID http://www.ispot.org.uk/node/17222
4 Comments
wow, ok, I absolutely did not know this. I will certainly have a closer look next time and learn to take notes as I photograph them! thank you arlanda!
Of course you can. The apothecia are those red dots I can see in your picture. It is a kind of structure that many lichens build up to produce and liberate the spores. Depending on the species and with a bit of higher magnification you would be able to see if the apothecia protrude from the thallus (the white base of your lichen), if they are concave or convex, if the have a rim and if this rim is of the same colour or a different one, etc. All these details will help to ID the species in many cases. In some others it is still necessary to use a microscope to fully identify the species.
I will help you if I can, of course. Lichens are very global although maybe in South Africa you have a few different ones.
Interesting arlanda, thank you. Can I, with a magnifying glass see the apothecia? so when Im out taking pics of lichen I could identify better or give a better description for you to help me ID? I do not know a thing about lichen and therefore would like to learn... someone said they make the world go around... :)
Cannot be Leproloma, it does not have apotecia. Check Haematomma species
http://www.stridvall.se/lichens/gallery/...
but it is hard to say without a closer detail of the apothecia