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!

Lichens, Bryophytes, and Fungus...I Oh My!

This was covering the majority of the cement walls at the Bellver Forest and I think it is Buellia  canescens, but don't quote me on that!

Unknown little blue crustose lichen. This was the only place I saw this specimen. 

Unknown white and black crustose lichen that was very common on soil mixed in with bryophyte species. 

The common gelatinous cyanolichen Leptogium brebissonii.

I think this is the liverwort Fossombronia and it was all over the place! Did not have the luck to see any sporophytes with hyaline setae. 

And another crustose lichen on a rock. One day I will know what it is. 

This terricolous lichen is all over the place as well but I can't seem to figure out what it is!

A tiny epilithic crustose lichen.

Good 'ol Xanthoria parietina. This time on a rock!

Caldonia pyxidata without fruiting bodies. 

Cladonia pyxidata with fruiting bodies. 

So cool! A very cute lichen if I do say so myself. 

Is this gelatinous cyanolichen Collema nigrescens (which I'm pretty sure I did see but didn't collect! grrr) or is it just more Leptogium brebissonii.

The beauty that are bryophytes. 

A nice robust moss. Or musgo, in Spanish. 

Some kind of cute little Peziza.

Moss and a mushy. 

Moss and another mushy. 

Some Xanthoria parietina on an wild olive tree (Olea europea var. sylvestris). 

A crustose epiphyte that could be Lecanora dispersa.

More X. parietina. 

Crustosos!

Cladonia rangiformis just carpets the ground in some areas. 

Cladonia rangiformis

A nice shot of Ramalina pusilla. 

The tiny Physcia adscendens. 

Some Ramalina pusilla and a white and grey crusty. 

Prarie Creek Redwoods State Park

I went camping over the weekend at Prarie Creek Redwoods State Park and I saw many species I have seen many times and also species I have never seen before, which is always a pleasant surprise.

The thalloid liverwort Conocephalum conicum

This is an old decaying fruiting body of Phaeolus schweinitzii that I found at the base of a Douglas Fir (Psuedotsuga menziesii). This fungus is a root/butt rotter and this tree will most likely fall over in the next few years depending on how extensive the rot is.

I was ecstatic when I found this rare species! This saprotrophic, achlorophyllous flower is called Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)because it looks somewhat like a pipe. There were 3 patches of them along the trail I was hiking.

The beautiful California Rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum)

Cladonia bellidiflora

A wild hazelnut fruit

Some gorgeous orange slash rotters with a poroid hymneophore that I saw in Fern Canyon

My old friend Fomitopsis pinicola. I was very ashamed of myself because I couldn't remember the name of this VERY common slash rotter for the longest time.

Peltigera neopolydactyla

Lobaria pulmonaria

Another saprotrophic, achlorophyllous flower I have never seen before called False Pink Asparagus (Hermitomes congestum)

I decided that this is the Coast Lily (Lilium maritimum)even though there are many other species of Lilium that look quite similar

I also finally noticed for the first time that there are tons of Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) growing in the park. I had only noticed them before as scrubby little sunlight deprived trees in the Arcata Community Forest.