Evernia

My second day on the Lichens for beginners course with Cumbria Wildlife Trust at Mungrisdale Village Hall.  It proved to be as fascinating as day 1.  We delved into the strange world of Lichen reproduction.  The asexual reproduction was fairly, logical for a symbiont  but getting my head round sexual reproduction when you are referring to "mating type + or -" takes getting used to.

In the afternoon we wandered round the area near the hall.  It is amazing how many species you can find in a very small area.  We managed to find Evernia and Usnea so we saw the difference (flattened thallus as opposed to a round one).

This shot is of an Evernia.  I am tentatively going to label it E prunastri.  The walk also helped to show how lichens preferred tree species with bark of a certain pH.  At one point there were two trees side by side one covered in Evernia and the other bare.

All in all a fascinating and informative couple of days.