Lichen textures on pebbles 1-8 CB Patches of dark grey to black, and bright yellow-orange lichens growing on beach pebbles that are subject to minimal disturbance on the landward side of the great pebble ridge known as Chesil Beach in Dorset.
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Jessica, do you know what the cup-like things on stalks are, and what their function is? They are most visible on your #1010784.
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Looks like a garden in springtime….
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Hi, Linda. Well, I am no expert on the subject but looking into “A Field Key to Coastal and Seashore Lichens” by Frank S. Dobson, I think the cup-like structures on this foliose lichen are the fruiting bodies, called apothecia, and they produce the spores for reproduction. The type of fruiting body is lecanorine. The genus is probably Xanthoria which is typical of the upper or submesic part of the supralittoral zone where the amount of sea spray declines and the lichen is able to establish on hard substrates without getting washed off. Most likely it is X. parietina or X. aureola. I am not certain that the fruiting bodies are on stalks though. I can’t see that in my picture. They just stand proud of the main structure.
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The photos were in fact taken in springtime – April 2011. Nearby there were many wild flowers in bloom but nothing so bright as these orange lichens.
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Wonderful to see these bright orange lichens .Thank you.
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You wrote: “They just stand proud of the main structure.” Yes, that’s all I meant by being on a stalk; something that makes them stand above the rest of the surface of lichens. Thank you for all your research, Jessica. Hope you find more wonderful lichens to photograph.
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