Today's weather was just perfect for a nature walk. Recently we have been doing our nature walk's near the house, but today we ventured out to the countryside. We did see some moss, but not very much. The Lichen on the other hand was everywhere. 
I think this rock has both the Foliose (leafy) lichen in the top left corner and also the Crustose (crusty) lichen on the rest of the rock.
In this close-up of a fallen branch you can see the reproductive "cups" of the lichen.
Here is a Foliose lichen growing on an oak tree. The underside of the lichen was a dark brown.
We saw plenty of examples of the Foliose lichen and also the Crustose, and then on our way back to the car we came across this Fruiticose (shrubby) lichen. We could easily see the little cups on the end of each branch. If you click on the picture you might be able to see them as well.
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Although we didn't see very much moss we talked about how moss reproduces and looked for spore capsules with our lens. This was very interesting and we want to be sure and keep on the lookout for spore capsules as we come across more moss on our nature walks.
3 comments:
Wahoo! Look at all that lichen! Great use of vocabulary too! I loved your photos and the last one was one I haven't seen before.
I am so glad to hear that you had nice weather for your walk and that you found some real life examples of lichen to observe.
Great job and thanks for the link,
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Oh, that looks very interesting! Lichen is so pretty (that's my girly comment). I haven't seen that last example before either. I'll have to keep a look out. :)
Baby questions... When are you due and do you have a name picked out already??? Can't wait to hear about this new little one.
I've never seen that last type of lichen; interesting what a different color it is. Looks like a great study!
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