View allAll Photos Tagged Lichen
Lichens on a dead mesquite twig. I lack the expertise to identify them, although the ones shown are quite common in central Texas. Lichens are very complex organisms consisting of a fungal species along with a photosynthetic organism, either a cyanoacteria or an alga. Many of the component species can exist independently of each other, in which case they have very different forms. Bauerle Ranch Park, Austin.
LIchens after an ice storm, Bauerle Ranch Park, Austin.
Most of these lichens are Teloschistes chrysophthalmus. Lichens are composite organisms made up of a fungus and a photosynthesizing organism, either cyanobacteria or algae. Even though lichens are composite, their names are based on the fungal species.
The details in the lichen patterns can be seen much more clearly in the original postings:
2. Lichens on fractured sandstone,
All lichen photos from Sorby Rock:
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Interesting lichen photos on Flickr:
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Recently posted lichen photos on Flickr
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A small, stunted tree ekes out a precarious existence among the furrows of a stony field...
Or, perhaps it is a patch of lichen on my well-weathered wooden bird table!
I love the way it looks as if this beautiful lichen is creeping its way down the fence! Happy Fence Friday!
Algae, lichens and moss are non-parasitic plant-like organisms that colonise bark, rock and other hard surfaces. Lichens and algae are often mistaken for a fungal disease but, fortunately, they do not harm plants on which they grow. Furthermore, they can give a mature look to a garden, preferring damp areas with minimal air movement.
After today's dog walk.
I cheated today and brought a lichen covered twig home with me so that I could use my macro lens.
When an alga and fungus physically intertwine in a very close symbiotic relationship, they actually form an entirely new growth called lichen. Lichen is a kind of primitive plant species that's nothing more than strands of alga linked with roots and branches of a fungus that together absorb minerals from the ground and conduct photosynthesis. They can grow almost anywhere, from moist bark to recently cooled lava to frozen rocks.
Unlike most parasitic or symbiotic relationships, when a fungus and alga grow together so tightly they can't be separated, they qualify as a different kind of material. Biologists have agreed that lichen straddles the monera and fungi kingdoms of living things since it is part one and part another. Its body, called a thallus, can be made of different types of fungi and blue-green algae, which will determine how much water it needs or to what it can attach.
The alga, called the physobiont, contains chlorophyll, so it can photosynthesize energy that it passes onto the fungus. The mycobiant, the fungus, has roots that leech minerals and water from rocks or plants that it, in turn, passes onto the alga. This allows the new growth to thrive in a greater diversity of climates than either algae or fungi do alone. It can even dry out during drought and reconstitute itself when the rains come.
An ornamental tree in the churchyard at Blore, Staffordshire
I took one in sunlight, and this one in shade. In he end I prefer the subtler colours in this version.