Tag: lichens

Beautiful Patches

A while ago I posted a photo of lichens. The yolk-yellow ones Caloplaca marina you find at the coast on rocks and walls and roofs of houses. My camera was drawn to the patterns and the textures and the way that no two are identical. I then noticed other lichens including the grey/olive-green ones growing on the sides of trees (which tell you that this is north-facing – as they prefer darker conditions, although if you live in the southern hemisphere this would be south-facing, and if you are in a rain-forest it won’t make any difference… OK, enough, I’ll let you find out about them yourselves if you are interested and it is probably safer to carry a compass than to rely on lichens in a forest if you get lost)

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Lichen foliose and fruticose

Suffice to say that lichens are living organisms and there are several types. The yolk-yellow crusty ones are crustose, and some are crustose placodioid as the pattern spreads out from the centre like those blue-grey ones; those on trees tend to be foliose or fruticose, the latter being like a mini shrub. And then you get the dusty powder sort that you find on rocks which is called leprose lichen.

Apparently there are 20,000 known species of lichens. Fascinating!

Five Photos, Five Stories: Day 4

I’ve been invited to take part in the “Five Photos, Five Stories” challenge by Alison of Scene by Minerva. The challenge is quite simply to “post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge”.

My five photos are going to depict what I love about Cornwall. The light, the colours, the coast, the history.

lichens
Beautiful Patches

Today I am focussing on colour. Yellow is one colour that I associate with Cornwall. The bright daffodils dancing in the fields in early spring; the deep golden gorse in early summer; yellow sandy beaches contrasting with the blue sky and blue-green sea and the wonderful yolk yellow/orange lichens on roofs and walls creating living intricate textures and patterns. (please click image to enlarge)

Caloplaca marina the Orange Sea Lichen is a crustose, placodioid lichen. It has wide distribution, and can be found near the shore on rocks or walls. Calos in Greek means nice, placa in Greek is shield. Caloplaca therefore means ‘beautiful patches’.

My nomination today is Elaine of I used to be indecisive who always makes me smile with her weekly ‘Friday Letters’. Absolutely no requirement to join in, only if you want to.