Icmadophila Ericetorum, fairy puke can be found in the Pacific Northwest and on all of Vancouver Island. Fairy Puke is a genus of crustose lichen. The genus has six species that can be found in the Northern Hemisphere. Of these, only Ericetorus can be found in North America. It has a mint green crustose thallus that is dotted with bright pink apothecial disks. It grows on moss that covers rotted wood and peat.
I like finding examples of Lichen, especially ones that I do not see very often, like this one. The most striking thing about lichens is the enormous variety of colours and shapes. They can be orange, deep, pale, or bright yellow. They may be green with a yellow tinge, deep green, or olive. Some are gray, pale, or dark brown, others are mauve, ivory, and even black. They grow on trees, on dead wood, on bare rock, or barren soil.
Lichens grow on every part of Vancouver Island and when you start to look for them, you will realize that they are so very abundant and so very pretty to see, take a very close look, and you will be amazed at their beauty.
Lichens have long been thought of like plants. Indeed, their behaviour is quite similar to that of plants. Nevertheless, they have been mostly ignored by botanists and are often regarded as simple, odd, and unusual organisms. They are composed of two different entities that support one another, one is a fungus and the other is an alga.
Living together in such a way is referred to as symbiosis. The nature of this close relationship is still not quite resolved, although lichens are commonly referred to as the standard example of symbiosis.
As you walk through our island forests, look down, there you just might see the tiny gardens, gardens grander than any forest. These gardens usually grow on fallen logs and in hidden corners of the forest. Surrounded by ferns, tree seedlings, and small plants, minute forests of lichens have small, grayish-green leaves. They cover the log with tiny upright spires that rise toward the sunshine. This scene repeats itself all over the forests of Vancouver Island.