Small Wonders. April 29, 2011
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, macro photos.Tags: calyptrae, lichen, moss, pink flesh, sex among symbionts, spore structures
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This time of year, mosses and lichens pitch their particular brand of woo by flaunting their engorged reproductive structures amidst the decaying detritus of Last Year’s Models.
Here are a few examples of what you might see if you were as low to the ground as I am (well, ok, I got down on my belly to see these intricate tableaus so you wouldn’t have to!)
Spore-bearing structures swell on a common moss:
(I called the photo “moss flowers,” but in fact mosses and lichen far predate the evolution of true flowers.)
Many types of small evergreen plants co-mingle in the moist forests of the Berkshires:
The new grow through the old, presenting a range of textures and colors:
Some spore structures are club-like while others resemble the flagellae of, um, much “higher orders” of life:
These whip-like structures are calyptrae, and are spore bearing.
…and still others present as fleshy pink protuberances on a sea of baby-blue scales:
And to think that all of these amorous apparitions disappear at the straightening of a spine!
The moral: Tread lightly on Mother Nature; Get Down and Go Slow – or you might never know what world of beauty just dissolved beneath your feet!