Rock Hairball Lichen and its Friends

 I started my morning by heading into Two Harbors to get some groceries. Of course I made plenty of stops on the way there and back to get out and explore. Like usual these days, I found myself really focusing in on the lichens; it's hard not to when you go walking along the shore for any amount of time. All the stops along the shore between Finland and Two Harbors look pretty similar, dominated by nonvascular plants and lichens, with scatterings of vascular plants, and the odd shrub/tree here and there. They all have the same usual cast of characters: three toothed and shrubby cinquefoil, white and hairy goldenrod, harebell, and tufted bulrush among others dominate the vascular plants; there are a few moss species that I don't know enough about to ID; elegant sunburst lichen, rock posy, and gray reindeer lichen are some of the common lichens; rhyolite and basalt dominate the geology; the climatic effect of Lake Superior has a big impact. All in all very similar. But, if you pay attention each of these places is incredibly different, even though they are just miles apart from each other. Some places every other lichen you see is yellow map lichen, some places it is completely gone. Rock whitlow mustard is probably the most common plant on Pellet Island, and mostly scattered everywhere else.  I have no idea what causes these slight variations (although I could probably make some guesses); all I know is that they make a beautiful mosaic along the North Shore for anyone that takes the time and looks closely enough to notice.

My favorite observations of the day were at Crystal Cove. There I saw a lot of rock hairball lichen (Spilonema revertens). This one looks quite simple, reminiscent of charcoal. I really enjoy the darker colors often associated with lichens that have cyanobacteria as their photobiont, as an added bonus they are able to fix atmospheric nitrogen! This lichen has a symbiotic relationship with blue-edged scale lichen (Psorula rufonigra). I haven't yet seen this species when wet, but rumor has it that it goes through quite an impressive color change and becomes vibrant green. Another species that rock hairball lichen grows symbiotically with is blue blister lichen (Toninia sedifolia). I found both species growing amongst the rock hairball lichen today. This was my first time seeing blue blister lichen, I was expecting to find it here thanks to a tip from John. 


Rock hairball lichen (Spilonema revertens)

Blue-edged scale lichen (Psorula rufonigra)

Blue blister lichen (Toninia sedifolia)

Although those three lichen species took center stage today, there were plenty of other cool observations. Some of them I see quite often, some of them very seldom. Some of them still remain a mystery.

What I believe to be a gall caused by Tremella sp. or a bacteria on the apothecia of a Lecanora sp. 

Found a few more populations of the state endangered Punctelia Stictica 

Rock whitlow mustard (Draba Arabisans) a state special concern species

Diplolepis radicum on prickly wild rose

Diplolepis fusiformans on prickly wild rose

Asphondylia diervillae on northern bush honeysuckle

Torymus sp. (some more parasitoids emerged from the Diplolepis ignota galls)











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