November 22, 2009

A Walk in the Woods: Pixie Cup Lichen







I looked up these wonderful little lichens, and found out, I think, that they're called Pixie Cup Lichen. (I hope our blog naturalist, Susan, will correct me if I'm wrong.) They are tiny, not more than 1/8 inch across and grow like concave toadstools among other lichens and mosses. They are perfectly named, as they look as though sprites and fairies can dance among them, and drink water caught in their small bowls.

5 comments:

  1. Susan SawyerNovember 22, 2009 at 4:50 PM

    Oh, lovely pixie cups! Can't tell which species, but in the fabulous Seussian genus, Cladonia, which includes the British soldiers and many others.

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  2. Altoon SultanNovember 22, 2009 at 5:30 PM

    Is the Seussian genus named after Doctor Seuss?

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  3. AnonymousNovember 22, 2009 at 5:40 PM

    The dreams fairy tales are made of.
    The colors of the Pixie cups also blend so nicely with the FLoating Squares diptych,
    Cheryl

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  4. Altoon SultanNovember 22, 2009 at 5:45 PM

    Cheryl, I thought of the color relationships after putting up these two posts today; how nice you noticed it too.

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  5. Susan SawyerNovember 22, 2009 at 6:17 PM

    No (to earlier question) I think there are some things named after Theodore Geisl (sp?) but I can't recall what. These just look like he drew them -- especially the ones that are cups with little cups around the edges. I love those. And it is that same beautiful celadon green of your ruglets!

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