The things you cannot see - Cladonia pyxidata

When you have a decent macro lens and lots of patience you finally get to see things others can. I happen to have both and when I started to shoot all the small things I got completely hooked. There was only one rules - the smaller the better!
And then I discovered the world of lichens and I got hooked even more.

From a distance they all might look the same. Some grey or green stuff that covers rocks, trees, branches. But when you take a closer look you enter an alien world (yep, that's how a hooked person talks :p).

Lichens are strange creatures.

A lichen, or lichenized fungus, is actually two organisms functioning as a single, stable unit. Lichens comprise a fungus living in a symbiotic relationship with an alga or cyanobacterium (or both in some instances). There are about 17,000 species of lichen worldwide.
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Cladonia pyxidata

Cladonia lichens can have many different forms, from cup shapes like you see here to a mess of little sticks that look like corals. If I managed to ID this one correctly it is pyxidata. Also one of the cutest in my onion with that cup shape.

They are not very big, maybe 3-4mm across in the widest spot, but can grow in quite large colonies if the conditions are right. Of course they like when it is went and not too hot. They will stand up tall and if you try to touch them, they will feel tender and quite flexible.
Tried it myself.
Many times.
Can't help it :)

This one here looks a bit different, though it was growing in the same spot.
Many different types grow next to each other sharing space with mosses and some mushrooms too.

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Bonuh shot:
From the same spot where the lichens grow, a single grass with some magnifying bubbles on.

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_{Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
(ƒ/14, 1/250, ISO160)
All photos and text are my own.}