Found a few weeks ago, always wondered when these came up in my area.
I did end up eating a few of these, they tasted like water but the texture was surprisingly pleasant.
Definitely magical and exciting to come across all sorts of fungi, take them home and learn about them. I often take friends and family out to find edible mushrooms and I end up picking the least amount of the edibles in the group because I like to fill my basket with mushrooms I have never seen.
We typically get a lot of snow, sometimes 9ft in a single winter or more but the last few years have been pitiful. This was at a slightly higher elevation (I am at about 500 metres). I often see people in washington and oregon find this mushroom throughout the winter, I thought it would be later for my area but not the beginning of June.
Haha, completely over my head
Taken with a pixel 9, I run Graphene but I believe this was taken in the google camera app.
Looks to be in the family Parmeliaceae, which is pretty large. I'm really just beginning to learn how to ID but I might start at a genus like Xanthoparmelia or similar.
Awesome thanks so much for the specs!
Thanks! I will keep that in mind when hunting for some new ones.
I originally got it for ID'ing mushrooms with spores and other microscopic features like cystidia and it hasn't disappointed in that regard. I would say it is probably still better to hunt around for a high-quality used model but I am happy with how it performs for my needs. I'll just mention the things I have issues with because other than that the miscroscope is great (coming from an amateur). The main issue I have is the quality of the objectives, you can see my photo has some chromatic aberration (this photo isn't using one of the original objectives but the stock ones are about the same level of discolouration). However, for my first scope they are more than acceptable, but I am looking to switch them out this winter. Another minor issue I came across was in making a dark field filter, I did end up making one but it was a major pain compared to other people's experiences with different scopes. All in all I am really happy with it as a beginner and if I ever decide to upgrade to a new scope I will know what to look for and what sort of features I like. Microbe Hunter's review of this scope is great if you haven't seen it yet.
Spore photo taken at 600x magnification on a Swift 380T.
These look excellent, good job.
I have only been keeping an herbarium for maybe 6 months but I have had good luck reviving them and viewing under the microscope. I don't know how helpful it is for the long-run but I basically take them all out, water them and set them out in the sun for a bit. The mineral content of my well-water probably isn't a fully balance diet for them so I am kind of just shooting from the hip and seeing how long that works. I don't have any scientific training so its all enthusiasm + trial and error. I imagine they should last a while, it can't be worse than the vacuum of space. If you are thinking about starting a collection I would work out a voucher tag system right away, its something I neglected to do early on and I'm kicking myself. I just use a little piece of paper and note name, date, location, substrate, etc. - not unlike a voucher slip you fill out during a bioblitz. One of my storage containers:
Not sure how I managed to never hit this species with UV. I would describe the colour as a bright, hot, lipstick pink. I am unsure if this lichen is actually fluorescing or if something else to do with how the pigments show up under UV light - maybe @[email protected] would know. Picture doesn't quite do it justice.
Another fun thing about this lichen is its role in dying as a photo oxidizing dye (POD). I have not dyed with this specific lichen but I believe the initial colour produced is a nice pink/mauve, when exposed to sunlight the garment will turn a sort of grey-blue colour. Unfortunately, the effect is not reversible so doesn't act as a 'mood-ring sweater'.
Probably the only Cladonia species I can (somewhat) confidently ID, if I'm wrong please let me know haha. I wish I had more time to sit down and brush up on my microscopy skills. I've come across this Cladonia field guide if any one is interested in a key to Cladonia. I will need to set some time aside to try it out. I have a few spots I frequent where Cladonia cakes every available surface.
Its been raining a lot here so lots of our lichens are brightly coloured and cheery.
I didn't know what this was when I first found it but I thought that it had mycoheterotroph vibes and snapped a photo. iNat confirmed it as Corallorhiza striata. I should have waited a couple days for the flowers to open. Very neat, I will be on the look out for more next season.
I'm not great with crust lichens (or ID in general haha) so don't know where to start with this one. This lichen was found growing on a pressure treated wood fence post so my first impression was that the colour might be the result of copper accumulation from the treatment chemicals. Its also likely (maybe more likely?) that its just a species I haven't come across yet. I haven't really started the ID process and I may not get to it for some time but I'd love to hear other people's thoughts. I didn't have my KOH on me but this area is one I frequent so I will bring it next time and see if I can't get a sample for the microscope.
Usually show up in the garden a couple weeks before they do in the woods.
Lecanora sp. centre (Hypogymnia physodes at the very top, Parmelia sp. at the very bottom) Found on spruce twig. Spot test with KOH - positive, yellow/green.
view more: next ›
These guys are edible, you could definitely candy them but I would be hardpressed to find enough to make it worth the effort. No flavour to them but a fancy little mid-hike snack.