I presume they are all lichens...names?...uses?

I’ve learned that lichens are both a fungus & a plant. I already knew that birds use lichen for great nest building & insulation. I just read that many animals large like deer and small like rodent type eat lichen. I was told but can’t find it in quick read, that lichen growth is a sign of healthy environment. We don’t want to leave lichen on our roofs but it’s very pretty on trees & your split rail fence!

ETA just saw your second set of pics - all those lovely mosses! Looks like everything around me here in PNW!

Lichens means clean air....

Sheldon lectured us on the plant fungus thing...

I think mountain men used to pack gun shots with either or both....but that might just be the wm Johnstone books I read

There is a purple one in the yard....I just have remember where

Ken

Split rail fences say "mine". They don't keep animals in or animals out and offer no privacy. All they say is this is my property. I wouldn't mind one to grow gourds on thought.

Not growing on a split rail, but I believe this is "reindeer lichen" I saw growing on state land not long ago. Btw, reindeer (caribou) were originally present in northern Michigan, but sadly extirpated by 1900 or so.

I've also noted that occasionally the trees we've sourced from TN carry some interesting lichens on their bark. These were on a serviceberry.

Ken way too much TBBT.

good for dyeing yarn

way too much TBBT.

==>> took me a minute to figure out big bang theory .. lol..

bazinga for you ...

ken

Those are some beautiful lichen. Split rail fences are used in my rural forested, rough, rocky terrain because you can't dig a line of fence posts to save your life. Split rail fences handle rough terrain. They are used for fencing in cattle, sheep and delineating property lines..

My neighbor accused me and my tree, just inside my line, of putting lichen on her property. They demanded I cut it down. I am still laughing. And the tree is still there.

Why Ken, are you not "lichen" this fence or something?

Here is the better closeup...

Bonus points if you can name the brown leaves...

Ken

Hmm looks like Lychnis coronaria now Silene c.

Cedar rail fences are a big nostalgia thing for me - but the ones I remember were Grandpa’s snake rail fences that ran between old spruce trees (which provided the vertical posts - and spruce gum for us kids!) I don’t particularly remember lichen but there was lots of wild blueberries and bunchberries growing along the base of the fences - along with moss and starflowers…. The trees were quite old when I was a kid and they had an unfortunate tendecy to come down across the road in a winter storm! I remember people pounding on the door in early morning after a winter storm took down a tree - the people needed our help to clear the tree off the road so they could get to town to go to work. Aahh the early 1960s in rural east coast in Canada…. ! Lichen there was - but it was insignificant in the overall picture - and we didn’t know (or care ) what the names of specific varieties of it were :-)

Ken, you must have a lot of time on your hands…….lololo! However, those are some really cool photos!
debra

maybe i should split this off in a seperate post..

who knew.. well.. i guess i did ..

i do know.. back in the day.. when i as growing a lot of hosta seeds.. and repotting every few weeks.. the acidic nature of peat based media.,. promix ... really did a number on my fingers ..nails.. and cuticles... dried them right up.. cracks.. etc .. to this day.. i still use hand cream before bed ..

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=moss+for+wounds&ia=web

ps: i also seem to recall some book claiming they used spider webs for wounds alos.. i let you search that up yourself ...

Interesting read ken……

debra