Dude12o Posted January 11, 2021 Report Share Posted January 11, 2021 I found these tiny mushrooms today at work. I am currently working in Hot Springs Arkansas. They were growing on top of some wooden posts. The caps of these mushrooms were as small as the tip of a ball point pen, probably the smallest mushrooms I have ever found. Does anyone know what these are? Whatever they are, aren't they cool looking?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Falcone Posted January 11, 2021 Report Share Posted January 11, 2021 Pretty sure that's just lichen, not fungus https://www.pilotonline.com/life/home-garden/article_e7993ff2-132f-5293-a5de-9009d4fd0cc3.html Cladonia cristatella or similar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dude12o Posted January 11, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2021 I had this suspicion. Never seen anything like it before. When I saw it I kind of got excited. I find it fascinating how much it resembles fungi. Thank you for sharing the link! Well I just looked up on Wikipedia and found out lichen is in the fungal kingdom. I didn't know this, I'm still fairly new to mycology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted January 11, 2021 Report Share Posted January 11, 2021 Lichens are actually composite organisms, with a fungal component. Something I didn't know until I just read this is that lichen specie are included within the Kingdom of Fungi. I believe that the fungal component of any lichen is an ascomycete. Thus, lichen species are classified within the phylum Ascomycota https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Falcone Posted January 11, 2021 Report Share Posted January 11, 2021 7 hours ago, Dave W said: Lichens are actually composite organisms, with a fungal component. Something I didn't know until I just read this is that lichen specie are included within the Kingdom of Fungi. I believe that the fungal component of any lichen is an ascomycete. Thus, lichen species are classified within the phylum Ascomycota https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichen Very cool. I don’t know anything about lichen biology Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dude12o Posted January 11, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2021 I'm glad we could all learn something from this. I tried to take some more detailed photos today. Well, the resolution of the photos on my phone look way better. There must be a limit on how detailed photos can be that are uploaded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troutddicted Posted January 11, 2021 Report Share Posted January 11, 2021 Incredible world of lichens! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dude12o Posted January 12, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2021 I know right! I thought they were little mushrooms. I have seen lichen plenty of times before, but never anything like this. I had no idea that lichen is both plant (algae) and fungi. I just assumed it was just a plant similar to moss. But looking at these pictures it makes sense that lichen would contain a fungal component. Here are some more pictures I took when the sun finally came out. These photos are unedited other than cropping and rotation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted January 12, 2021 Report Share Posted January 12, 2021 These little guys are quite photogenic! Cladonia gracilis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dude12o Posted January 12, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2021 What an amazing little organism. Very hard to take a picture of something so small. My camera is definitely not good enough to take a picture that close up, it would never focus. It looks like something you would see on an alien planet, or maybe on the bottom of the ocean. The diversity of life on our planet never fails to fascinate and excite me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted January 13, 2021 Report Share Posted January 13, 2021 I use a $100 Canon camera. It has a couple different per-sets for macro that I use. When I come upon an interesting small subject I snap a lot of photos using each of the two different settings. The photo seen above was the best out of a dozen or so. Sometimes it's just a matter of being lucky if the camera focused the way I want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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