Thanks for commenting…you’ve given me the PERFECT excuse to spend some words on this Wednesday Without Words topic! 🙂
There are two types of deer lichen here — see how one is more white and the other is pale green? Neither of them feel as fluffy as they look.
Florida has a fire ecology, meaning that many habitats depend upon fire to keep things moving along as they should. Deer lichen grows very slowly. Lake May Reserve has large areas of deer lichen, indicating that it has not burned in quite a while.
Of course, Lake May Reserve is also in a populated area, and the smoke from a controlled burn would not be welcome. If you hike there, you will notice that it really needs to be burned. . .there is a lot of undergrowth and litter that will provide plenty of fuel in a wildfire situation.
It looks so fuzzy! I like the little spot of sun shining in
Thanks for commenting…you’ve given me the PERFECT excuse to spend some words on this Wednesday Without Words topic! 🙂
There are two types of deer lichen here — see how one is more white and the other is pale green? Neither of them feel as fluffy as they look.
Florida has a fire ecology, meaning that many habitats depend upon fire to keep things moving along as they should. Deer lichen grows very slowly. Lake May Reserve has large areas of deer lichen, indicating that it has not burned in quite a while.
Of course, Lake May Reserve is also in a populated area, and the smoke from a controlled burn would not be welcome. If you hike there, you will notice that it really needs to be burned. . .there is a lot of undergrowth and litter that will provide plenty of fuel in a wildfire situation.