Tolerating pollution and broad pH ranges Fire Moss is fairly common.. If you see a patch of moss that has a red haze over it you can be pretty certain it’s Fire Moss. The stalks and spore capsules are red – brown and seen from a shallow side angle a patch of moss has a red haired look. Looking straight down the stalks almost vanish.

Moss and lichens can hardly wait for the snow to melt before they go into their reproductive cycle. After melting and refreezing (who knows how many times) snow has turned to ice trapping a few Fire Moss spore capsules.

Fire Moss – Ceratodon purpureus

For a closer look click the image above for a 1024 x 768 sized version. The thumbnail is linked to a 1680 x 1050 wide screen image. Use either as desktop wallpaper if you like.

Just another Felt Lichen – Peltigera polydactylon surrounded by icy snow. This may be the last of the ‘on ice’ lichen photos of the year. The snow is nearly ‘no more’.

…And now for something completely different:

I found a puzzle today. It was well packed in fur but I suspect it’s missing a few pieces.

Owl Pellet

The ‘Awakening’ photo contest at Gardening Gone Wild is still open. The deadline for entries is 11:59 pm Eastern time on Sunday, March 21, 2010. Go check out the details so you can enter too.

The Fire Moss and Ice photo above is my entry. Now show me yours.

First up is a fleshy, leafy lichen on a bed of rock and moss. My best guess on an ID would be this is a Felt Lichen – Peltigera polydactylon. I’ve tamed it down some but it’s still a pretty wild guess. My only ‘research’ was looking at far too many photos trying to find a match.

Lichen Wallpaper Large Lichen photos are linked to a 1024 x 768 sized image Lichen Thumbnails are linked to 1680 x 1050 wide screen image The light colored odd shaped growths are another mystery to me. New growth? Reproductive tomfoolery? Mutant terrestrial rock kelp?

Long past their season these Orange Mock Oysters wintered over in fine shape. Wish I had found them in the fall when they were fresh. They might have smelled then. Orange Mock Oysters grow on both hardwood and conifers but the odd thing about them is they don’t smell when growing on conifers. I’ve found them growing on hemlock and couldn’t detect a hint of any odor. Today’s find was on an old dead birch but if they had any odor it was freeze dried out. One other note: they’re supposed to taste worst than they smell.

Orange Mock Oyster – Phyllotopsis nidulans

Mock Oyster Wallpaper – 1024 x 768

The If I don’t use them now I’ll never use them category

Ice Quake

Huge slabs of river ice have cracked and buckled along the shoreline while performing their own version of the plate tectonics shuffle.

The camera can’t catch what the eye sees in this photo.

Mysteriously formed holes and moss growing on a rock. I don’t have any idea how the holes were formed but they did give me some other ideas. First thing I thought of was to bring the rock home with me. Trouble is it’s nearly a mile away and still frozen in place. I’ll have to hike back with a pry bar and sled. It’s not the only mossy rock on my list either. I better get busy before the snow melts and get my treasures home before it’s too late.

Another idea that popped into my head was to start selling these miniature rock-moss gardens. But on second thought it’s not so practical since the postage would be a real deal breaker. It’s too bad, there are countless perfect little rock and moss gardens out there and I’m pretty sure there are just as many people that would appreciate having one of their own.

One of the holes made a perfect sunken moss garden

click image for a larger size (1024 x 768) for a closer look or to use as desktop wallpaper

Maybe it’s just me but when I look at this photograph I’m reminded of goose heads. These spore capsules haven’t lost their operculum (basically a lid that covers the top of the pod) and might make you take another gander at them.

I came across two creatures that looked like they had a tough winter this year. Both their coats looked the worst for wear.

Winter can be tough on a Porcupine. This one survived by eating bark from it’s Maple tree abode. It looks a little ratty sunning high up in a crotch of the tree but at least it made it through the tough winter.

Poor Skunk Hard hit by the sudden automotive depression it never had a chance to raise a stink and left this world scentless.

Off center questions:

Would Moss Hole and Spore Head make good cuss names in polite company?

What could be more uncomfortable than a porcupine in your crotch?