3 For ID Help Please.

[Lancashire Lad]

Despite poring over photos on several Lichens sites, and much browsing of S.Dobson's Lichens book, I'm no nearer with these and would appreciate any help towards potential ID's.

First two found growing on southerly face of a dry stone wall, central Pennines.



Third (2 pics.) A cluster of Cladonias growing with moss on top of same drystone wall.



Regards,
Mike.

[JennyS]

Hi Mike,
1. Lecanora muralis
2. Physcia caesia
3. Cladonia diversa is a possibility

[Lancashire Lad]

Thanks very much JennyS, once again I think you are absolutely correct.

I had looked at both L.muralis, and P.caesia in Dobson, and had convinced myself that my examples looked somehow "different".

But when pointed back to these by someone who knows what they're talking about, they just seem to be so right!

You are most likely correct with Cladonia diversa too. In this case there was something about the squamules that pointed me towards C.squamosa, but the overall look of the complete lichen didn't deem to fit.

I'm not getting any better at this am I

Thanks once again, much appreciated.

Regards,
Mike.

[AlanS]

Originally Posted by JennyS

Hi Mike,
1. Lecanora muralis
2. Physcia caesia
3. Cladonia diversa is a possibility

I agree with Jenny.

The colour in the photo of C. diversa is wrong, it should have a distinctly yellow tinge (contains usnic acid), but as pointed out here before, digital cameras often fail to record this colour correctly. The closely similar but MUCH rarer C. borealis is more grey, but the surface features in the photograph are wrong for that.

(In the rare camera reviews that include testing of the sensor for colour accuracy, the spectral gaps and variations between cameras are really quite alarming, but unless we have a particular reason to be looking for a very precise colour, we tend not to notice. I note that latest cameras have a menu item to set colour perception to get flesh-pink right, but evidently there is not the demand yet for usnic acid yellow-green ...)

Alan

[Lancashire Lad]

Thanks for the additional information Alan, much appreciated.

Regards,
Mike.