Hello, I found this in Devonian Park in Metchosin on a trail, growing on a giant granite outcropping surrounded by Fawn Lily’s and Hen and chick succulents, moss and ferns. In a darker wooded area, with a fresh water stream parallel to the path, which has a natural bog full of skunk cabbage adjacent. Third photo is for ecocline context. It’s leaves are 3 inches in diameter, and underneath the leaves it has the green moss / spikes growing downwards and out. Speckled tops. Any ideas? Much appreciated!
JayBreezy welcome. Lots going on...your 1st/2nd pic seems to show lichen and lycopodium./maybe moss. 3 . Is a very healthy fern. Sorry....cannot see any Asplenium scolopendrium, commonly known as the hart's-tongue fern. Asplenium scolopendrium | hart&s;s tongue fern Ferns/RHS Gardening
Thank you; I haven’t seen a heart’s tongue that is round, is that a variation? Thank you; I haven’t seen a heart’s tongue that is round, is that a variation?
Interesting… does Lung lichen have the spiked underside? Picture one on the left really shows how that is connected to the button of the leaf… or would that disease as noted above?
Thank you Margot! Your intuition helped me figure it out! It’s the common Freckled Pelt Lichen. Peltigera aphthosa - Wikipedia More about the wonderful world of lichens About Lichens
Found it! It’s the common Freckled Pelt Lichen. Thank you for your help! Peltigera aphthosa - Wikipedia NatureServe Explorer 2.0
I was thinking Asplenium scolopendrium crispum Cristatum - Harts Tongue Fern But it appears you now have the ID
And now I’m going down a rabbit hole! Does this always happen ?! lol. This has been an excellent introduction to this forum, thank you for the crowd sourced brain power … I feel lots of hours are going to be spent here! Freckle Pelt Lichen, Vancouver Island, BC | Gohiking.ca
I have trimmed your 3rd image. Ferns from pics are really hard/ almost impossible to be accurate. But definitely not any variation of Asplenium scolopendrium . Asplenium scolopendrium crispum Cristatum - Harts Tongue Fern - Ferns – Hardy Garden Fern Plants - Garden Plants
The fern is almost certainly one of BC's polypodium ferns; probably Polypodium glycyrrhiza (Licorice fern) which is common and widespread along the NA west coast. Hart's tongue fern is not native to BC and unlikely to be found in the wild area where you were hiking. With all the plants you saw, it must have been a wonderful experience. Good work identifying Peltigera aphthosa which, like Lobaria pulmonaria, is known to fix nitrogen. I have attached an article written by Terry Taylor in BC Nature magazine a few years ago. https://bcnature.org/
Side note: the world expert on Peltigera is Trevor Goward from the interior of BC. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the world hotspot for biodiversity of Peltigera is BC.
