Thursday, January 29, 2026

Extending Paxton Lichen/Fungi List

An enjoyable walk round Heronry trail at Paxton yesterday in the sunshine spending some time in the scrubland near the Quarry photographing a few more lichens and fungi. The most interesting find for me was this bright pink lichenocolous fungus - Illosporiopsis christiansenii parasitic on Physcia tenella and sometimes also on Xanthoria parietina. It grows in and on the host lichen, feeding from it, degrading it, and eventually killing it. You can see in the second image bottom right the areas or sick or dead lichen of both species. I will add the ID sheet when completed.

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