#credits for the pics i dont directly credit are under the respective CNALH links

[botanyshitposts]

first row: Psora decipiens, a very cute pastel squamulose lad with a pink center and white isidia around the edges. in my opinion these are best viewed under a dissecting microscope, where you can see all the details of the fading between the pink and white sections. 

second row, left: Ramalina menziesii, the lace lichen and the state lichen of california. very cool lad who grows in HUGE tufts hanging off branches.

second row, right: Lobaria pulmonaria, aka ‘lungwort’, known for covering WHOLE ASS TREES and unsurprisingly one of the fastest growing lichens.

third row, left: an example of the large lichen genus Cladonia; Cladonia fimbriata, specifically. this genus is responsible for most of the lichens I see people getting confused about in general, and i’ve found this is because theyre just...kind of hard to make sense of if you’re unacquainted, especially if you’re like, wandering in the woods and encounter a group of Surprise Cup Lads (LICHEN PRO TIP: when you see a lichen making little cups on stalks, something from Cladonia is a solid guess in terms of ID). the genus is huge and incredibly diverse, and they all come in different shapes, sizes, colors, and growth forms, which makes them even more endlessly entertaining. when i first learned about these guys i spent a couple hours just looking through my uni’s herbarium; Cladonia, as a genus, fills half a locker of samples in the lichen section (that is...a LOT of lichens). 

third row, right: Usnea cirrosa. i have never seen this species with my own eyes. i’ve seen other species of Usnea, which look comparatively normal, but i have never seen this particular one outside of the lichen textbook where i saw this exact same picture and could not handle it. this is one of those times where i just do not know what happened here in terms of evolution. apparently it lives in texas

fourth row, right: Pseudocyphellaria anthraspis (aka Lobaria anthraspis). the pic is one i took of a sample i collected in northern california, near a redwood forest. i just think shes neat

fourth row, left: Rhizocarpon lecanorinum. this one’s a smaller sample photographed by Annelie Burghause on Flickr. we use this species in class as an example of a lichen that can be identified by what color it glows under UV light; this one turns orange, which indicates rhizocarpic acid in the thallus. 

there are probably a ton im forgetting bc there are a LOT i like but these are some that come to mind lmao