Old Man's Beard Lichen

Description:

When outside with snow on the ground in the woods, we were looking for lichen during the 4 degree celsius weather. Our group found two different kinds of lichen, which were on trees. One lichen had been about 2.5 centimeters long, and was light green. Another characteristic about this lichen was that it was stringy, and looked like small, bunched up roots. At first I thought that the lichen was Wolf Lichen, but it turned out that it was only in the Northwest. Now, I think that this lichen is Usnea hirta. The reason why I think it is Usnea hirta is because it is also light green and looks stringy from far. It also looks like bunched up branches up close, as does the lichen that we(my group) had spotted. Kingdom:Fungi Division:Ascomycota Class:Lecanoromycetes Order:Lecanorales Family:Parmeliaceae Genus:Usnea Species:Usnea hirta

Habitat:

This lichen was located in the woods. It was not that far from the developed area that we are located(MMS), but it was located on a tree(about half way up) and was only 2 cm. long.

Notes:

http://www.lichen.com/portraits.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usnea