A late nineteenth century agate hardstone minature rabbit with cabochon sapphire eyes, sitting in an upright position with finely carved fur, suspended on a yellow gold ring bearing the marks for Fabergé, measuring 2cm x 1.5cm, St Petersburg, gross weight 3 grams.
Common orange lichen, maritime sunburst lichen, shore lichen
Starting off with this charismatic pal, X. parietina. Easily recognizable due to its orange, foliose lobes and habit of growing anywhere and everywhere, this species is incredibly tolerant of pollution and human activity, and will probably takeover the world soon. In spite of that obnoxiously neon hue, its photosymbiont is actually green algae. Also, it was first described by Carl Linnaeus, you know, just the father of taxonomy, so that’s pretty cool.
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This week, I will be revisiting some of the older posts I made long before I had any followers. And this is perhaps the most important post I’ve ever made. X. parietina is one of the most common lichens pretty much everywhere. Like if you see a yellow or orange or yellowish-green lichen, 9/10 it’s gonna be this one.
A true icon of the lichen world. Like you could probably go outside and find some within 5 minutes. Go on, do it. I dare you. Unless it’s like, really cold where you are or your busy or whatever. But anyway, if you want to start your lichen ID journey, start with X. parietina and you will be rewarded everywhere you go.
Say “hi” to the Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu (Uraeginthus bengalus)! ☺️ It lives in parts of central and eastern Africa, such as Cameroon and Ethiopia, where it inhabits savannas and grasslands. It spends much of its day hopping about, foraging for seeds or grains. Both males and females come in shades of blue and brown, but only adult males have red patches on their cheeks.
Photo: JJ Harrison, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
