The benefit of never downloading your photos is that there are forgotten gems in there when you do get around to it. These shots are from a river trip in the Grand Canyon, in Fall 2011. I volunteered on a bighorn sheep research trip, and while looking for sheep feces I also made a ton of magnetic measurements of rocks and checked out the crust flora. Don't ask, these are just things I do in my spare time.
These are some shots from the vicinity of mile 30 or so, or crusts growing on soils derived from the redwall limestone in Marble Canyon.
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| Psora crenata. This species is not common on the Colorado Plateau, but really the canyon bottom is getting close to a hot desert climate. I also see lets of this near Sedona, AZ, on soils derived from the Supai formation, and in the verde valley, AZ, on the verde limestone. |
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| Peltula sp. (maybe richardsii). I did not collect this, but it does look distinct from the teeny, mostly sterile Peltula patellata I am used to seeing in Colorado Plateau environments. The giant red apothecia were clearly visible from a standing position, and caught my eye from meters away. The squamules are notable smoother than patellata. There's also a tiny bright green Bryum moss clearly visible. |
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