Pixie cup lichen (Cladonia sp.)

[leonardturner]

This small (some 8 mm for the tallest) "pixie cup" lichen is quite common, but seems uncommonly beautiful.







Lumbercam/reversed 50 mm el Nikkor/Nikon D3S/Stackshot/Zerene

[abpho]

Very cool. Haven't seen this type of lichen yet.
_________________
I'm in Canada! Isn't that weird?

[Pau]

Very nice!
_________________
Pau

[Pizzazz]

I really like the texture and dimension. Nice with the water drop.

Mike

[JL]

One of the most beautiful pictures that I have seen lately!!!

Congratulations.

[leonardturner]

My thanks to all of you for your kind comments.

[Chris S.]

Leonard,

Captivating image!

I've long been fond of pixie cups. Am among those who suspect that Cladonia pyxidata describes not a specific taxon, but a disparate group of lichens that have similar appearance.

Your image does a great job of showing how a lichen is a partnership of a fungus and an alga. Your use of moist conditions makes the algal bits (green) especially distinct from the fungal hyphae (white).

So an image both attractive and illustrative. Yay!

--Chris

[RogelioMoreno]

I like it!

Rogelio

[leonardturner]

Thanks to you both, Chris and Rogelio. Thanks to you especially Chris for your earlier reference on lichens; I read it in its entirety and learned much. I wonder if some of the fungal partners in the lichen complex will in the future be found to incorporate some of the algal genes as we apparently have with our ancient bacterial visitors. Perhaps they already have.

Leonard

[Chris S.]

[ckatosmith]

Yes, beautiful and captivating...

[leonardturner]

Thanks to you both. Chris, here's your reference in case you need it again:


http://archive.bio.ed.ac.uk/jdeacon/microbes/lichen.htm

[rjlittlefield]

This is a really excellent image!

I have no experience in trying to collect, maintain, or photograph this sort of lichen. Can you give me some more details about the process you used?

--Rik

[leonardturner]

Rik, Thanks for your interest and comments.

I can claim no lichen expertise, but I was fascinated by these tiny cups which were growing on a very damp bank in the North Georgia mountains. They were easily removed with a pocket knife, bringing a few millimeters of soil with them, transported back home in a sealed plastic cup, and placed in a softball size glass container with an open front. They were watered with distilled water on pretty much an every day basis and kept on a window sill. They were photographed about 2 weeks after collection, and continue to look good now, 6 weeks later. The water in the cups is distilled water from my wash/watering bottle.

Chris' earlier comment is well taken; my identification came from a retired botanist who saw the picture, but the world of taxonomy is changing rapidly. I should have perhaps stayed with "pixie cups", or maybe just left it at "Cladonia".

The photography involved a stack of 150 images through a reversed 50 mm el Nikkor onto a full frame sensor Nikon D3S. Focusing was by moving the entire lens/bellows/camera complex by a Stack Shot rail, and images were processed by Zerene. The "lumbercam" comprises several sections of 2X6 wood left over from another project with a ball head for the rail on one end and flexible holders for the strobes on the other. The top section can be removed to adjust for height, and final subject positioning is done via a very heavy derelict microscope chassis modified for the purpose. An earlier version of this with different lighting and lens is pictured here:



The Cladonia image was made not with the SB 800 units shown in the picture, but with a pair of relatively tiny Nikon SB-R200s with the optional diffusion covers mounted, placed very close to the subject on either side. Fired by the "Commander" unit seen on the camera, these can be adjusted to very low power (and short flash duration) individually, with good battery life using rechargeable batteries.

Leonard

[rjlittlefield]

Great info -- many thanks!

--Rik