Lichens at Eridge Rocks 14.04.24

This was a very brief visit to Eridge Rocks and represents a very small sample of a much more diverse and abundant lichen flora at Eridge Rocks

I have included English names in this post; these names are rarely used as  they are not vernacular names that have grown up through popular usage but names that have been made up in an attempt to popularize lichen

Farinose Cartilage Lichen Ramalina farinacea

 

Bitter Wart Lichen Lepra amara

Pertusaria pertusa Pepper-Pot lichen

 

 A species of the Graphidaceae family, possibly Graphis scripta, common script lichen

 Pore Lichen Lepra albescens

 

 Finger Cup Lichen Cladonia digitata

Bark Barnacles Thelotrema lepadinum - ancient woodland indicator species 

Inoderma subabietinum - ancient woodland indicator species

 

Bunodophoron melanocarpum - this is a species of Atlantic woodland (temperate rain forest) and is more commonly seen in Snowdonia and NW Scotland. It is seen at Eridge Rocks because the Ardingly sandstone of the ghyll woodland of Eridge Rocks is extremely damp because of springs, resulting in a degree of humidity commensurate with its survival even though Sussex does not have the degree of rainfall that Snowdonia and NW Scotland have

 

 

 

Lichens on a Small-Leaved Lime, Tilia cordata, at Buxted Park SSSI 06.08.24

Buxted Park is an old deer park consisting of a variety of unimproved grassland communities with parkland trees and areas of woodland which as a whole support a large invertebrate population. It lies on neutral-acidic soils over Tunbridge Wells Sandstone, Wadhurst Clay and various superficial deposits in the valley of the River Uck 

Click Buxted Park to read it's full SSSI specification

These lichens were on this Small-Leaved Lime

On this section of a branch these lichens be seen

Parmelia sulcata Usnea cornuta

Pertusaria pertusa Pyrrhospora quernea Physcia tenella

Melanelixia glabratula

(The blobs on P. quernea are spots of sodium hypochlorite and potassium hydroxide, for ID testing purposes).

 

Probably Putussaria pertusa

 

Melanelixia subaurifera

Evernia prunastri

Flavoparmelia caperata

 

Lecidella eleaochrima

Xanthoria parietina and Parmelua sulcata

Ramalina fastigata

Putusaria leioplaca

Leprarai incana

Phlyctis argena

Lichens at Waterhall LNR, Brighton. 27.07.24

For more information about Waterhall, see Wilding Waterhall 

Some of these identification were made by another lichenologist.

Lichens on a Hawthorm

Teloschistes chrysophthalmus. Golden-Eye. Very obvious "eye-lashes" (spinules) Now quite common on South Downs hawthorns.

Usnea cornuta (a "beard lichen"). Hold-fast (where lichen is fixed to tree) not black. Stout main branches.

 

Hypotrachyna revoluta, with brown fruiting bodies; fruiting bodies are rare. Lobes rolled down at the margin. This is not a typical-looking H. revoluta.

 

Lichens on worked wood

Hypogymnia physodes. Very characteristic narrow radiating lobes. Lobe ends often turn up with soredia (fluffy structures for vegetative reproduction) on the underside extending to the fan-like margin

 

Fuscidea lightfootii. Bright green thallus (body). Apothecia (fruiting jam tarts) dark brown to black)

Flavoparmelia soredians. Very similar to F. caperata. Chemical spot test - Potassium hydroxide - yellow turning red - separates it from F. caperata

Placynthella icmala. Thallus chocolate brown. Coral-like granules

 

Lichens on a Sycamore. 

Phaeographis dendritica. This is a script lichen. Most script lichens need chemical and microscopic spore analysis to identify but P. dendritica has very tree-like lirellae (elongated apothecia with furrows along the middle) 

 

Pyrrhospora quernea. Thick ocher to greeny faun thallus if granular soredia (reproductive structures like little fluffy balls). Often has red-brown apothecia

 

Lecanora compellans. Looks like Pyrrhospora quernea but with green-yellow small soredia. Very similar to L. compellans and L. barkmaniana. Chemical spot tests are needed to separate these out. L. compellans spot tests are all negatives.

 

 

 

Lichens from West Witering, East Head (sand dunes). West Sussex. 28.05.24, 01.06.24 and 01.07.24

East Head Sand Dunes

Theses identifications were made collaboratively with another lichenologist 

A fuller account of these trips to East Head can be found here: 

East Head, West Wittering, West Sussex. Vascular Plants (12 Sussex RPR species) Lichens & Birds 28.05.24, 01.06.24 and 01.07.24.

Peltigera sp. possibly P. rufescens (or P. membranacea)

Probably Peltigera canina

Cladonia foliacea 

Probably Cladonia rangiformis with apothecia (above C. foliacea)

Probably Cladonia furcata (on Hypnum cupresseforme moss)

 

 

Cetraria aculeata

 

Possibly Cladonia pyxidata Pebbled Pixie Cuo

 

Possibly Cladonia fimbriata Trumpet Lichen 01.06.24

Probably Cladonia humilis

Lichens on seashore Quercus robur at West Wittering 

Pachnolepia pruinata

 

Possibly Cladonia digitala, on soil next to tree

 

 Lichens on worked wood (rails) West Wittering

Lacanora sulphurea (left) and Lecanora hybocarpa (right)

 

Lichens at Limpsfield Common, nr. Oxted, 20.05.24

Limpsfield Common is just in Surrey, just north of the West Sussex-Surrey boundary. It is managed by the Nation Trust: see: Limpstead Common for more information.

Limpsfield Common is on the Greensand Ridge, and is semi-natural ancient woodland and heathland. The trees on which these lichens were growing were Quercus robur, Fagus sylvatica and Betula pendula

Ramalina farinacea

  

Pamatrema peralatum

Parmeilia sulcata

 

Lecidella eleachroma

Hypotrachyna afrorevoluta

 

 Arthonia atra

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Graphis scripta

Cladonia coniocrea

Xanthoria parientina