Loch Ness Overgrown with Moss

[KeenTeen17]

I have a better photo thats not as blurred

and there were some cladonia sp. that need confirming.

Bellidiflora?

Floerkeana?

[demicav]

Originally Posted by Adam Cheeseman

Lichens aren't plants strictly speaking. Technically they are nearer to animals or so a lichenologist once told me. They are a combination of an algal species that provides the chlorophyll and a fungal species that forms the thallus (body). The scientific name of the lichen is that of the fungal partner because the species will only ever have the one fungal symbiont whilst the algal partner can be a different species.

Cheers,

Adam

Thanks for explaining.

[earthdragon64]

Were the lichens on any specific species of tree? I always associate this amount of lichens with Birch trees, there are quite a few covered in lichens around here, the really old ones are known as 'Granny Birches'.

[KeenTeen17]

they were on birches. almost every one was covered!