Gravestone moss/litchen ID please

[alindsay]

All found on one gravestone in Bedfordshire and your help in identifying would be gratefully recceived.

Sorry if you have had to ID these a 1,000 times before as they are so common, but I just looked .... really looked at them for the 1st time and realised how fantastic they are.

I have noticed that you give the grandious Latin names to these plants/creatures in your answers normally, but as these little growths must have been around forever, don't they have common names as well?





Thanks in advance.

[Lancashire Lad]

Absolute lichen novice here, but I'd like to chance my arm with some tentative suggestions.

First Photo: -
Main Yellow Lichen - Caloplaca decipiens.
Brown/Grey Apothecia (left hand side, midway up on same photo) - Lecanora albescens.
Small yellow lichen (left hand side & rear of photo) - no idea.

Second Photo: -
Physcia tenella or Physcia adscendens.

Third Photo: -
A moss - possibly Grimmia pulvinata.

The problem with common names, although I know exactly where you are coming from, and I use them all the time myself, is that what might be a well known common name in one region, might be unknown or known as something completely different in another region.
Whereas the Latin name will be consistent, (with proviso of possible taxonomical change), world wide.

Regards,
Mike.

[alindsay]

Thanks Lancashire Lad

.....but Latin just isn't homely.

And thanks for naming the one I hadn't even noticed with the naked eye.

Note to self - look even closer !!!!!!!

[poschiavanus]

Most lichens don't have 'homely' names: I've known many a four year-old who's managed without them for Dinosaurs, so we ought to be able to cope without them for lichens. Another advantage is that in many cases it might be possible for non-experts to give the generic name ('surname') but not the specific one. This is certainly true for your picture.

There are at least six lichens in the first picture:

• Prominent yellow one in centre frame
• Small one with yellow fruiting bodies
• Grey lichen with mid-brown fruiting bodies ('jam tarts') centre left
• Something similar centre front, buff-brown fruiting bodies
• Pale lichen embedded in the stone in the background
• Darker lichen also embedded in stone in the foreground

I never did get a feel for churchyard lichens, so am reluctant to try and start naming them, but suspect all of these will be shown on the FSC foldout guide to such things. Local nature reserve visitor centres often stock these, well worth 3 quid.

The first is certainly a Caloplaca.
The second is most likely a Candelariella spp., e.g. Candelariella aurella.
Third and fourth likely to be Lecanora species.

I'd go for Physica tenella in the second picture, and the moss as a Grimmia.

[alindsay]

............ and I thought I was looking closely and now realise there was so more to see.

Thanks poschiavanus, especially for the link. Take the point about Latin names.

Wow to litchens .........

[AlanS]

As I pretend to be a sort of "expert" around here, I am posting just to confirm Lancashire Lad's identifications of the lichens (note spelling) and moss are spot on.

The Physcia is likely to be adscendens, but cannot be identified from the photograph in my view.

I see no great value in speculating on things that are out of focus and not the subject of the photograph, but the granular yellow lichen left and above of the Caloplaca decipiens is most likely Candelariella vitellina (but I don't believe rather dispersed variants of C. vitellina can be reliably separated from C. aurella without a microscope).

Alan

[The Woodman]

It's always a pleasure to learn from someone more experienced than oneself, Alan.

The difficulty for some, including me, is where to dip ones toes into the thread.

To make the best possible attempt at ID from the resources available is fraught with difficulty but good guidance and explained features from those more experienced makes for enjoyable learning, not just in this thread - other subjects too.

Last point, I'm sure you're not pretending to be an expert, Alan!