Operation Wildflower
  • Home
  • Albums
  • Links
    • Botanical Gardens
    • OWF Sites
    • Public Parks, Gardens and Reserves
    • Reference Sites
    • Private Parks, Gardens and Reserves
  • Information
    • About Us
    • Articles
    • Contact Us
    • Disclaimer
    • Glossary
    • Plant Records
      • Aloes
      • Bulbs
      • Climbers
      • Cycads
      • Euphorbias
      • Ferns
      • Grasses
      • Herbs
      • Orchids
      • Parasites
      • Shrubs
      • Succulents
      • Trees
    • Sources of Information
    • Subject Index
Home Home » PARKS AND GARDENS » Addo Elephant National Park » Leafy lichen
Back to Category Overview
Total images in all categories: 12,086
Total number of hits on all images: 7,387,242

Leafy lichen

Leafy lichen
Start View full size
[Please activate JavaScript in order to see the slideshow]
Previous Previous
Image 22 of 36  
Next Next
Image 24 of 36  
  • Euphorbia caerulescens growing tall
  • Female ostrich swallowing
  • Grazing buddies?
  • Gymnosporia polyacantha subsp. polyacantha fruit
  • Holy Scarab
  • Kudu bull
  • Kudu cow
  • Lacomucinaea lineata stems and microleaves
  • Leafy lichen
  • Male ostrich menacing
  • Pale chanting goshawk
  • Pelargonium peltatum flowers after rain
  • Pelargonium peltatum wet leaves
  • Red hartebeest conflict resolution
  • Red hartebeest travelling by road in Addo
  • Sansevieria hyacinthoides
  • Schotia afra and muisvoëls

Image information

Description

These interesting forms of leafy lichen or macrolichen were seen on old branches of shrubs near Addo. Growing on plants lichen is not that old. Lichen may become very old, however, said to be among the oldest living things on earth.

There is even technology called lichenometry, a method of dating that uses crusty rock cover lichen to determine the age of exposed rock. The estimated rate of increase in radial size of flat lichen on rock and the diameter of the largest lichen of a species on a rock surface are used to determine the duration of the rock’s exposure.

Lichen can last on rockfaces for up to 10,000 years, the maximum range of lichenometry. Accuracy within 10 percent is best for surfaces exposed for less than 1,000 years. This makes lichenometry useful, as carbon dating is less effective for dating surfaces less than 500 years old.

Lichen is a functional organism composed of two joined living entities: The green algae or cyanobacteria part of the lichen provides carbohydrates by photosynthesis for feeding the partnership, while the fungi provides protective covering from the environment, gathers moisture and nutrients and sometimes anchors the structure (Wikipedia).

Hits
370
Photographer
Ivan Latti
Author
Ivan Latti
 
Back to Category Overview
Powered by JoomGallery