Tickspore Family – Acarosporaceae
This bright, yellow-green rock lichen is common in our area and can be seen from a great distance.
Lichens are comprised of fungi and algae which live symbiotically. The fungus provides a home for alga which in turn provides food for the fungus.
The common name reflects the color of the fissure-separated, yellow-green “squamules” or areoles. One can imagine them to be miniature cobblestones.
The scientific name refers to the fungal fruiting bodies and the mocroscopic spores contained within them. The fruiting bodies appear as “social” groups of small brown, sunken structures on some of the areoles. The spores look like little blood sucking ticks.