Another good day.

I went out lichen-hunting this afternoon. ("be vewwy vewwy quiet; I'm hunting wichens"?). Or at least as much as one can in a skirt and sandals and on campus.

But I found (and think I correctly identified) two species, and got the third to genus. I found a Candelaria concolor (which I am very sure about), a Loxospora pustulata (at least that's my best guess; I don't have the staining or the microtome capabilities necessary for some of the definitive work). And the one I've identified to genus is Lobaria. It LOOKS a whole lot like Lobaria tenuis, but that species is not known from this area and I can't do the definitive tests. (It could also be Lobaria ravenelii, a/k/a Dixie lungwort, which is a bit more likely because its range is close to where I live.)

Lichens are cool. I have an identification book that's supposedly more of a field guide on order from Amazon; right now I'm using the hugacious "Lichens of North America" (the Brodo/Sharnoff book).

I wish there were a lichenologist near me that I could go visit and have him or her teach me the Way of the Lichen. Maybe sometime, some summer when I elect not to teach, I can go somewhere and sign myself on as a lab tech or field person in return for instruction on How to Know the Lichens.