Monday April 18th, 2016
4:00-4:30pm
Sunny
86 degrees Fahrenheit
Ravenna Park

Today spent my time searching for lichen and fungi, unfortunately I was unable to spot any types of mushrooms or fungus in my area, but I was able to spot some lichen. Today required me to look much more closely than I have in previous weeks and pushed me to go farther of the beaten path than I normally do. On the Western Red Cedar to my left I was able to spot some Dust Lichens or Lepraria species. The lichen didn't have lobes or leaves like the other lichen I found in the area. It was mostly just a pale powdery substance on the bark. I hope to identify the specific type of dust lichen in the upcoming weeks.

 About 2 meters to the right of the path I looked up to find what I believe to be Common Witch's Hair or Alectoria sarmentosa in it's early stages. I'm going to watch it's progress over the next couple of weeks to determine if it's witch's hair or another type of long, pale green lichen.

I walked about 5 meters to left across the path and found some lichen growing in the soil. With greenish to grayish lobes I identified it as Cladonia scales. As you can see in the picture the lichen is growing in the soil but on top of a patch of moss which is common for the cladonia species.

When I walked back towards the red alder less about a meter or two away I found some lichen that had fallen off a branch. It was a pale green color with stiff branches. When I looked closely I was able to identify it as the Blood Spattered Beard or Usnea wirthii due to the tiny powdery balls on the branches of the lichen.

While unsuccessfully searching for fungi, I walked over to the area where I had found the witch's hair and discovered some lichen that looked like it fell from the red alder above. This species had the first loosely appressed lobes that I had found today. It had narrow, pale green lobes with hood shaped swellings so I was able to identify it as the Hooded Rosette or Physcia adscendens.

I walked about 2 meters towards the stream hoping that I could find some fungi but again it proved unfruitful. Luckily I was able to find some more lichen on the fallen log that lays across the stream. It was difficult to get close to it with out actually stepping into the stream but from the photo I was able to identify it as Ragbag or Platismatia glauca due to it's large, loosely attached leafs.

When observing how the other plants in the area were growing I was happy to see that the salmonberry shrubs were starting to grow more buds. They still have yet to produce any berries but I'm hoping to see that by the end of the quarter. The horse tails seem to be growing nicely. They haven't grown much in length but the branches had grown a couple of inches outwards since I last saw them. While looking in my field guide I realized that because these horse tails have branches they are considered sterile horse tails, as apposed to fertile horse tails with no branches.

Salmon berry buds forming