Boston British soldiers.

[urbpan]

Alexis and I have an ongoing challenge for ourselves to find the most urban British soldier lichens in Boston. ("Closest to Boston" was how we were phrasing it.) British soldiers (Cladonia cristatella) are charismatic lichens with bright red spore-bearing bodies. Lichens in general are not tolerant of air pollution, and so are more rare in urban and industrial places. Some lichen species are more tolerant than others, and the presence of various species and how well they are thriving can be excellent indicators of air quality.

We found some British soldiers near our place in Brookline, and that stands as the closest to the heart of the city so far. The closeness of the Emerald necklace might help air quality in that neighborhood. The lichen community (with some moss and other organisms) pictured above is from the roof of one of the admissions booths at Franklin Park Zoo. This is the first of this species we've found actually in the City of Boston, though the Brookline patch was actually closer to the middle of the City. Using City Hall Plaza as a landmark, the Brookline lichens were 3.1 miles away while the zoo lichens are 4.6 miles out.

Check out this Oregon Public Television clip about lichens, featuring lj friend omphalina!

p.s. First LJ post from the Dedham House!

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I love these guys.

[badnoodles.livejournal.com]

Those are really neat looking. I assume they are at least passingly toxic?

Are you going to keep the same mailing address? My "subjects" and I were going to send you a small housewarming present.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I closed my mailing address a few months ago. I'll send you my new one via email.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Not sure about toxicity. Fungi seem to flout the rules about color and toxicity to which plants and insects adhere.

[bill_sheehan.livejournal.com]

Beautiful! Can they be used for dye?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

A quick look about seems to say no to that one. You might guess that a good red could be derived from them, but I apparently not. The lichens I'm aware of that have been used for dye are gray to green, but yield purple dyes. It's a weird world.

[ellettra.livejournal.com]

Those lichens (that lichen?) is very very cool! I do so love your non-spider pictures.

[roaming.livejournal.com]

Really lovely. Never seen these before. Now I'll be on the lookout. (Hmmm, might have to travel to Brookline to see them.)

[m0053.livejournal.com]

awesome! I just found some similar to this, which I'll post pictures of later. I was hoping you'd be able to identify it ^____^