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.