Alien Sighting in Bunyola

We were too late to catch the bus to Valldemossa so instead we went somewhere new, Bunyola. It has a nice mix of pine and oak forest and some really cliffs that you can see here.

A close up of the apothecia of a Diploschistes sp.  

This Diploschistes was found growing on some mosses. 

I have been on a mission to find this brilliant orange lichen appropriately called the Golden Eye Lichen (Teloschistes chrysophthalmus). 

It is so cool looking with the bright orange apothecia with the cilia lined margins!

Some yellow-orange Xanthoria parietina mixed in with Physcia leptalea. 

Some of these twigs of Quercus ilex are just COVERED in lichens! This looks like a nice mix of X. parietina, Physcia leptalea, a Parmelia sp., and some bits of a Ramalina sp.  

A tiny gelatinous-looking fungus poking its fruiting bodies out through the bark of a Q ilex twig. 

Some Targionia sp. growing on a muddy cliff face. 

This is not technically botany but these bug eggs are really awesome!

These earth stars (Geastrum sp.) were everywhere in the higher elevation areas around 300 meters and higher. 

A beautiful gelatinous lichen that was very prevalent on many of the rocky cliff faces. It was frequently found with mosses. 

This is likely to be Euphorbia characias subsp. characias. It flowers from February to July and apparently has some medicinal properties. 

A good looking crustose lichen.

Another good looking crustose lichen.

The strange mushroom that is Clathrus ruber. Unfortunately it was over the hill when I saw it. Check it out in its prime!

This is definitely one of the stranger fungi I have ever seen. It looks like some kind of cast off alien biomass! I had a feeling I new this one from somewhere and I was thinking of the family Phallaceae... 

When I was at the University, I was waiting in the botany lab and picked up a book on Catalunian fungi and lo and behold I saw my mystery fungus when I started flipping through the Phallaceae  section! 

Yep, definitely some kind of alien flesh...

A wood rotter at the base of a Q. ilex. 

A good shot of the trail I took through the forest in Bunyola. Definitely headed back there!

I FOUND AN ORCHID!!!

I went to Valldemossa yesterday to get out of the city and do a little collecting for my lichens project. We went up a different trail than we usually do and I stumbled upon a pleasant surprise!I think I found either Ophrys dyris or Ophrys fusca. I think there is a better chance that it is O. fusca because, according to the Virtual Herbarium, it is very common and starts blooming in the winter and early spring. It is a very beautiful orchid but there are a lot of different species of Ophrys on the island that look somewhat similar. 

Check it out!

It kinda looks like it is imitating a fly don't you think?

Sporophytes

Some mosses starting to dry out and curl up their leaves to preserve water. 

I have no idea what these are but they look really cool close up. 

Look at all that Ramalina pusilla just covering the acebuche!

The town of Valldemossa, which appropriately means "Valley of the Mosses" in Catalan.  

There is a wide diversity of ferns but I unfortunately don't know much about ferns so I can't tell you what they are. 

Cladonia pyxidata looking quite squamulose. 

More Cladonia pyxidata. It is really common here. 

A cool shot of some kind of caterpillar on a wood rotting fungus with very cool lamellae. 

Three tall sporophytes

A moss on the verge of elevating it's sporophytes. Look at all those silvery awns!

A very small leafy liverwort that looked like a green film from far away. It was covering the soil of a cut cliff face. 

A close-up of the flowers of Erica multiflora.

A species of Parmelia.

Another species of Parmelia. 

Slimy little guy...

Peltigera membranacea looks so cool growing mixed in with the mosses. 

This stuff looks so awesome close up! Get me a microscope for my birthday por favor?!

Cladonia rangiformis mixed in with some mosses. 

Evernia prunastri

Another Parmelia species mixed in with what looks like some Frullania on a dead snag.