Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Tough Morphology ID's of Lichen

My usual modus operandi in identifying lichens is to take multiple macro photographs of an unknown species. Then upload digital photos to computer where they can be zoomed in to reveal diagnostic morphological characteristics. Works fairly well with macro lichens...with crustose lichens it can be wishful thinking. Here's a case study of sorts:

I 'justified' identification by descriptions from Lichens of North America. Really should use chemistry for definitive ID. Making my way slowly to this action. Check out +The Lichen Page or +Dan Bowden on Google+ for more lichen dialogue/photos.

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