Living on Stone
It has been acknowledged for many decades that air quality has a direct effect on the survival of lichen, so much so, that the pollution present in most cities has eliminated them from the urban environment creating a veritable 'lichen desert'.
So as a city dweller, I rarely have the chance to enjoy the fascinating patterns of lichens on trees and stone. However on my recent visit to Wales I had lots of opportunities to make up for this loss and was able to take pictures of these curious living forms ( don't ask me to define them more accurately than that, I'm no lichenologist). I have tried to identify them in these pictures with the aid of Oliver Gilberts' 'Lichens'.
This is the celtic high cross outside Nevern Church in Dyfed. It is one of the best examples of early-celtic crosses in Wales and unlike the Irish ones, its superb carvings are geometrical, with no human figures.
It is over 7' high and covered in bright orange patches of lichen.
Architectural detail of red sandstone covered with Leconora rupicola.
A rich community of lichen.
Caloplaca aurantia on a stone wall near the coast in Pembrockshire.
On a tombstone at Capel-Y-Ffin, the fine texture of a Lecanora species.
So as a city dweller, I rarely have the chance to enjoy the fascinating patterns of lichens on trees and stone. However on my recent visit to Wales I had lots of opportunities to make up for this loss and was able to take pictures of these curious living forms ( don't ask me to define them more accurately than that, I'm no lichenologist). I have tried to identify them in these pictures with the aid of Oliver Gilberts' 'Lichens'.
This is the celtic high cross outside Nevern Church in Dyfed. It is one of the best examples of early-celtic crosses in Wales and unlike the Irish ones, its superb carvings are geometrical, with no human figures. 
It is over 7' high and covered in bright orange patches of lichen.
Architectural detail of red sandstone covered with Leconora rupicola.
A rich community of lichen.
Caloplaca aurantia on a stone wall near the coast in Pembrockshire.
On a tombstone at Capel-Y-Ffin, the fine texture of a Lecanora species.
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