Above:A jewel-like line-up of mosses in the glorious late afternoon light at the Lyall Creek Trail, on Saturna Island, BC.
Practicing with the close-up views of the world around me. It is a very verdant and natural world at the moment: it rains practically every day, and all this “wet” nourishes the greenery.
Have a look.
(Psst: if you find that I have incorrectly identified one of the following tiny denizens of our forest, feel free to use my contact page to let me know. I will be very grateful to make a correction!)
Those are the blooms (or capsules) of a new moss colony in my rock garden. The sun showed up that day. It is gone now.
And in the forest around here, little treasures on the forest floor, in the mosses… if you look really closely. Above: British soldier lichen (Cladonia cristadella).
Another view of these interesting tiny lichens. It looks like when they bloom, the “mouth” of capsules opens. Just my observation, and I am not an expert by any means.
Above: some Pixie cup lichens (Cladonia chlorophaea) sometimes find it useful to grow on top of each other. I guess the space available on the right side of rocks is getting tight. Location, location. Competition!
A new lichen colony, standing up in the mosses.
Above: on a branch that had fallen in the mosses, some really leafy lichen. No idea about ID (my middle name!). Admire the texture.
Above: Grand foam lichen (Stereocaulon grande), with bloom capsules. Our forest floor is full of little treasures, you just have to look closely.
Above: another very common lichen: Freckle pelt (Peltigera aphthosa) with its capsules opening.
And I leave you with the above delicate little treasures: mosses sending up a couple of “beaky” seed capsules. Had to hold my breath to get that shot.
Happy trails.
