ccantley's Favorites

• white cyphellae (craters) on lower surface
• profusely isidiate margin of lobes
• as with most Sticta species, imparts the odor of fish when gently touched (best done after lunch unless you are eating fish or relish said aroma).

This lichen was growing on a Red maple in the middle of a dried out vernal pool. I still managed to get my boots a bit wet, while trying to get to the lichens to photograph them. The H. minarum was growing alongside Punctelia missouriensis and some Cladonia.

Lobes are smooth, lacking pseudocephyllae. Much of the thallus surface is covered with brownish isidia, i.e., small projections which act as structures for vegetative reproduction. The isidia break off and are carried to other places by the wind, giving rise to a new thallus.

https://www.plantscience4u.com/2014/07/difference-between-isidia-and-soredia.html

Friendly, non-aggressive mining bees typically do not sting or bite and will emerge the following spring from their nest site, a literal hive of activity well worth a watch on a sunny spring day or with warm winter weather like we have right now; see this one dig mightily around the solitary hole, making a fine burrow in the ground!

On a large branch of a large wind-felled Oak.

In the last two photos you can see indications that this rosette is infected with Tremella flavoparmeliae, the odd growths that it causes are only at the early stages.

Last photo shows hydrated color.

The apothecia do not have a crown of powder as one sees in Lepra amara. The hydrated color is not so green as in Lepra amara.

The apothecia are crowded, in some instances new apothecia erupting nearly under older apothecia, as one sees in some species of Ochrolechia and Coccotrema. Yet I find no match there.

Possibly: Asplenium × ebenoides (Scott's spleenwort, dragon tail fern or walking spleenwort) The sterile offspring of the walking fern (A. rhizophyllum) and the ebony spleenwort (A. platyneuron), A. × ebenoides is intermediate in morphology between its two parents.

Both parents were observed on the parent rock. Limestone / Ozark chert cliff facing west.

2 last photos show ebony spleenwort (A. platyneuron) in the same crevice as the Asplenium × ebenoides. t Asplenium pinnatifidum IS in the area.

After looking at Ferns (The Illustrated Flora of Illinois) Mohlenbrock and feedback from other I am more leaning to Asplenium ×kentuckiense [pinnatifidum × platyneuron]. At this time that appears best fit. I will go back later this year and compare with any new growth. It appears it may of had some die back due to the cold.

Its green iridescent chelicerae [mouthparts ("jaws" shaped as articulated fangs) of subphylum Chelicerata, an arthropod group of arachnids, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders]; I got up on a ladder and let the spider crawl from walking on the ceiling into a little vase, then after last photograph, let free into the great outdoors

Jumping spider sex determination (it's not rocket science): look for this morphological sexual characteristic, and clearly visible, comma-shaped thickenings at the end of its pedipalps, i.e. on its palps, it's 100% a male

UV+, a small yellowish green sorediate rosette lichen 2-3cm diameter, prominent whitish pruina near the lobe tips, and a cortex fluorescing bright banana yellow due to the presence of lichexanthone [first 3 photos in 365 nanometer ultraviolet (“black”) light, some of the rest under a flashlight]; during the day, it blends into the background, but at night or under UV light one of the most easily identifiable Sewanee lichens, as even thallus fragments less than 1mm glow bright yellow {the related Pyxine sorediata, UV-, also grows here, has a thallus with a characteristic blue-green aspect, reaches ± 8cm in diameter, often as a lone medallion on a tree trunk; Pyxine subcinerea often in groups scattered up and down a slender smooth-barked branch}

Ignoring all clues because I thought it was Bonfire Moss, no matter what, now with many heartfelt thanks and great appreciation to @mjpapay, @sammyisafuzzydog, and @gillydilly, I gratefully update my Notes:
• acrocarp/un-branched/simple moss
• leaves hair-like, 4th photo
• capsules fat cylindrical or barrel-shaped, structural details of surfaces not apparent
• capsule stalks 3-8 mm

For the Open-flower Witchgrass (Dichanthelium laxiflorum), cf. inaturalist.org/observations/149459475

Endangered in NY state according to wikipedia, although iNat is not treating it as such. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sceptridium_dissectum)

These interesting ferns depend on mycorrhizal fungi for survival. They produce a sterile frond and a fertile frond, which are attached at the rhizome. The fertile front produces sporangia that look like clusters of grapes.

Found by another NYMS member

The last few photos show the effects on the wood due to the fungus. Slight reddish streaks can be seen (hence the name "rufescens"). The fruiting bodies look quite green at a distance.

https://www.waysofenlichenment.net/lichens/Buellia%20epigaea

• bullate thallus
• apothecia with thick black rim and black disk
• nearly epiphytic on a Cladonia robbinsii lichen, presumably there is a thin layer of rock dust/soil accumulated there-in, hence the species epithet epigaea

Native to Germany and other Central Europe countries, as well as being potentially invasive, Aquilegia atrata can be distinguished from Aquilegia vulgaris by color and by its more outstanding stamens, a showstopper in spring because of its deep-colored flowers; it is a member of the poisonous Ranunculus family – all parts of the plant, including seeds, are toxic if ingested – found wild here along the Victor-Hugo-Riverbank side of the Rhine River

Am Winterhafen: eine Pflanzen-Art aus der Familie der Hahnenfußgewächse (Ranunculaceae); bestäubt werden die schönen Akeleien Blüten nur von Insekten mit ausreichend langem Rüssel, etwa Hummelarten

This twig (see 3rd photo) provides sibe-by-side comparison of the almost inscrutably similar Hypotrachyna livida on the left, and Myelochroa glabina on the right.

Hypotrachyna livida has

• thalli that are not as closely adhering to the substrate
• distinct gaps between thallus edges
• a thallus that branches laterally, with comparatively long straight sections of thallus (this individual is not exactly exemplary of said trait)

This twig (see 3rd photo) provides sibe-by-side comparison of the almost inscrutably similar Hypotrachyna livida on the left, and Myelochroa glabina on the right.

Myelochroa galbina has

• lobes of the rosette that overlap on the edges
• thallus sections that tend to fork in a "V" rather having a main running section with lateral branches
• thallus adhering as if pressed to the substrate (is adnate)