SylviaD
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Thank you both, still in my early stages of microscopy so I’ve not done a Trapelia before, but yes Trapelia, should have thought of that. Will be interesting to see that reference if you can find it Maxine. Now it will have to go in the mystery pile for later! Sylvia
Hi Neil, Not really an answer to your questions but on a field trip to Petworth Deer Park with the Petersfield group Ken Sandall found what looks very much like Ochrolechia subviridis on a veteran Oak. Out of the group, only Ken had IDed it before and that was a long time ago, so we just wanted to double-check the ID. It was, of course, C red, K negative. Photos attached. Now that I have – hopefully – seen O subviridis in the wild I’ll be a bit more confident with an ID and hopefully start to find a few more records.
Regards,
Sylvia
Thank you Jenny, that’s great to know. Sylvia
That’s great Anthony, really helpful information. The photo of the section is indeed x100. I have never knowingly seen L pulcaris, but have been hoping to find it. I’ll make a few more sections and see how they turn out and get my act together with my Pd. As a beginner to this, I’ve only seen lovely cube-like crystals that were really obvious even under low power as they glint, so these needle-shaped ones really threw me. Their formation could have been influenced by external chemical factors or environmental – probably never know. Thanks once again
Sylvia
Thank you, I didn’t know that about the epithecial crystals for L pulicaris – these ones seem definitely finer than in the L hybocarpa I have looked at and stretch far down between the paraphyses. I will test with Pd – I have some, but have yet to make it up to use. However, I am still puzzled about the fact that the calcium oxalate has formed needle-like crystals in the thalline margin, rather than the large and sort-of angular cuboid crystals that I normally see and I thought this was the same in L pulicaris. Perhaps this is just a natural variation in the way the crystals are formed – wondered if anybody else has seen this. Sylvia
Thanks Mark, great information that has helped a lot. I will attempt to look at the conidia as it’ll be good to have a go at looking at these. Thanks,
Sylvia
Thank you Neil, that’s great Sylvia
Hi Neil, I’ve just got a microscope and so was able to do a section of the possible Dendrographa decolorans apothecia. I’m not yet set up for photography so this is a terrible photograph, but it definitely looked like a spore, but am I right in thinking that this is a D decolorans spore – curved and 3-septate. This one was about 35um long. There were a few what I thought were mature asci with long spores curved coiled around each other, but very few loose no matter how much I squashed and mounted in K. I’ve not tried staining yet and plan to do that.
Thank you
Sylvia
Meant to say – although I put the K test as negative, it was one of those where I was very undecided about whether there was a slight yellow and erred on the side of negative. Thanks so much Mark. What a lovely lichen to find. It does have an odd look as the apothecia seem almost as if they don’t belong on it – although I could clearly see them developing. There was a lot more on the north wall of the church but non-fertile. I will definitely be going back for a better look at the church as I also found Pertusaria pseudocorallina, which I have seen in Cornwall, but first time in Sussex for me (there are some records). Amazing what you can find in 20 minutes waiting for a bus. Thank you
Sylvia
Thanks for the comprehensive and fascinating reply, Mark. Sylvia
Neil, That’s really interesting. The thallus was very well developed on rough bark. I have taken a sample so will sort out looking at the spores. It rather threw me seeing apothecia as I understood they are rare.
Thanks for your help,
Sylvia
Thanks Neil, that’s great. The soredia were very like the description for Trapelia corticola, dot-like, fluffy balls and very discreet, but yes the colour in the photo does look ‘greener’ than pale green. But in real life they were fairly pale and stood out strongly from the thallus colour. First time I’ve ever found anything looking like that. It was Lake Wood, Uckfield, which you might know, although I don’t think it’s ever been surveyed before. Thanks for your help
Sylvia
Thanks Mark, that’s really helpful. There are some very subtle differences in shades of pink between the last one I posted and the one in the original post. The latter ones do have the waxy appearance more of Lecanora sulphurea, but the first are more dusted with icing sugar. Your comments have really cleared up a lot of confusion I had over Lecanora sulphurea. It is very common in churchyards here and I realise now that it does have a remarkable number of guises, including looking very different if away from T atra and looking like it has some type of soredia. Well off to get some samples in the next few weeks, so the tests can be done dry.
Really good to know about the UV tests as well, Neil.
Thanks once again
Sylvia
Hi Mark, I just examined one of the photos, the one from the top of the wall and notice down in the right hand corner what could be an apothecia which resembles more closely a Trapelia placodioides apothecia. I’ve cropped the photo and attached it.
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