This mint green cutie is common on shaded rocks, mosses, and tree trunks. Lepraria species are sterile crustose lichens and cannot absorb liquid water at all due to surface tension, deriving all of their moisture from the air. This explains why they are largely restricted to shady/humid areas. This particular species is thick and cottony, while some other Lepraria species can be granular and rounder. There are 12 North American species of Lepraria identified.
I had the honor this week of talking to James Lendemer of the New York Botanical Garden about his work with lichen in Pennsylvania and the east coast. He is just the man. Google him. I'm so excited and honored that we will be staying in touch with one another over the summer, that I am invited to check out his lab, and that I may be able to go out into the field with him! I very nearly hyper-ventilated when I got off the phone with him. Lichen nerds unite!
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