TT338 Lichen, Evernia prunastri

This is a tiny piece of lichen I spotted in the wood this morning.  I was looking for something small and interesting for Tiny Tuesday. (Thank you to Sheol for hosting).  I only noticed this tiny piece because it was a different colour from the fallen leaves around it.  It`s slightly bigger than my thumbnail, and a pale green/blue in colour.  I back-lit it to show it`s fascinating structure.

Lichen is a composite organism.  It is a stable symbiotic association between a fungus and algae.  Well, I`m learning all the time.

Merlin Sheldrake, in his bestselling book, "Entangled Life: How Fungi make our Worlds, Change our Minds and Shape our Futures", tells us that lichens encrust as much as eight percent of the planet`s surface, an area larger than that covered by tropical rainforests.  They clad rock, trees, roofs, fences, cliffs and the surface of deserts.  Some are a drab camouflage.  Some are lime green or electric yellow.  Some look like stains, others like small shrubs, others like antlers.  Some even live on beetles, whose lives depend on the camouflage the lichens provide.

Really fascinating.  Between fungi and lichen alone there`s lots to see at this time of year.
The wood has taken on a different appearance again.  Now, most of the trees are bare, except the firs, and the surfaces are deeply covered with fallen leaves.  When we entered the wood we walked on deep green/brown fir needles, then it was gold and brown broadleaves, and finally a carpet of russet beech leaves. 

We saw no deer or squirrels, and very few birds, and only two people.
There are still fungi everywhere, although no bright coloured species, mostly mushroom/beige colour.