(click on photo to enlarge)"F" is for British Soldiers?
Whilst taking my "D" photo a couple of weeks ago, I discovered an interesting growth on the old timbers of the bridge upon which I was standing. I had never seen such before, and had not the faintest inkling of what I was observing. I took my camera, with photos, to my gardening daughter's home and we looked it up in her Fungus book (she has a book for just about every sort of thing one might encounter in the great outdoors.) Turns out that what I had on my camera card was a lichen named British Soldiers. A quick Google search revealed the following:
"British Soldiers is a lichen which gets its name from its resemblance to the uniforms worn by English soldiers during the Revolutionary War. A lichen is not just one organism, but a fungus and algae living together to form a new organism.
The fungus in British Soldiers is called Cladonia cristatella. The algae is known as Trebouxia erici. Because lichens take the name of the fungus part of the relationship, British Soldiers is also known as Cladonia cristatella." - The above information taken from the Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools web site. More information on British Soldiers can be found here.
This fungus/algae combination is really tiny. I estimate that the longest of the growths shown in my photo were about an inch long.
ABC Wednesday was created by Mrs. Nesbitt. Please visit the ABC Wednesday site to view others' interpretations of this week's letter, "F."
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ReplyDeleteI've never heard of that fungus/lichen, let alone seen it, and it's beautiful! You must go back and get lots more photos! I remember that fungus/algae/lichen lesson from high school biology class (a looooong time ago). Thanks for the reminder lesson.
ReplyDeleteYour photo is really wonderful, Pat. Great F contribution....and L contribution....and A contribution... ;-)
The photo is fabulous! The name and description are hilarious!
ReplyDeleteHow interesting Pat... I have never heard of such a thing. I'm learning more and more every day..
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Hugs,
Betsy
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ReplyDeleteSorry-my blog published twice... Duh..
ReplyDeleteBetsy
That was a good one for the F. Love it. Have a fun abc:)
ReplyDeleteIt is so Fantastic and Fabulous to read all the F post. Excellent choice.
ReplyDeleteI think it is amazing with this ABC.
You learn new stuff every week, thank you Pat.
xoxo Tyra
That's a fantastic photo, Pat. And truly an interesting background to its name. You never fail to have unique posts.
ReplyDeletefantastic capture
ReplyDeleteThat is new to me! I've never seen such a fungus! Thanks for taking the trouble of taking a photo of it and lateron looking it up. It's learning every time new things that makes blogging so interesting.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh Pat, you managed to capture that lichen (that I never heard of) beautifully. Stunning photo! Great post!
ReplyDeleteGuess the old English Redcoats had the same scarlet uniforms...
ReplyDeleteWonderful! And, Educational! Just what I'd expect from you! :)
ReplyDeleteHugs--
Great photography, and what an interesting lesson.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing
Kate
cholulared.blogspot.com
Oh, Pat.....this is so interesting. I have never heard of such a thing. Good for you to enlighten us to this unusual member of nature. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteEducational! I love to learn something when I come to someone's blog, and I wasn't disappointed today. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLichens are fascinating, aren't they? I've never seen one so colourful though!
ReplyDeleteSuperb photo! I love local lichen but have never seen anything like this...gorgeous...
ReplyDeleteGreat shot and such a lovely fungus. Pretty enough to want to cultivate. Wonder if you could?
ReplyDeleteQuite fetching for a fungus.
ReplyDeleteSandi
What a great post, really interesting. I don't think I've come across this fungus before. Thanks fo sharing it!
ReplyDeleteWhat a pretty picture and great lesson!
ReplyDeleteI've never seen anything like that before. It's quite lovely.
ReplyDeleteOoh! I don't ever think of lichens as beautiful, but this one is! I never knew that a lichen was fungus and algae living together. Thanks for the info :)
ReplyDeletesuch an interesting post and brilliant picture!
ReplyDeleteI've seem these before but never knew what they're called. Nice photos. The lichen is such a lovely shade of green with the red.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of British soldier fungus, but seeing the bright red I would say that the name is appropriate.
ReplyDeleteThat's really fascinating! I'd no idea that a lichen could have that sort of colouring.
ReplyDeleteNow you have taught me something totally new! That saved my day.
ReplyDeletePS Thank you for the very pleasant comment!
nice and informative...
ReplyDeleteThat is amazing...who knew such a plant existed before zoom lens?
ReplyDeleteThat is really cool-what a great find! Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier. :)
ReplyDeleteFascinating shot !
ReplyDeleteA name full of ...fancy!
That is so interesting as I didn't know that and it shows that paying attention to little things in nature can reap big rewards...great post.. Michelle
ReplyDeleteBeautiful picture, i have no idea of what it is in the begining. Very nice information, an interesting read.
ReplyDelete