Iowa Lichens

A checklist of Iowa lichens is presented at the same reference as the checklist of fungi. Lichens are, after all, essentially fungi that have algae living symbiotically with them. That reference is:

Tiffany, Lois H. and George Knaphus, 1998. "The Fungi. Lichens, and Mysomycetes of Iowa: A Literature Review and Evaluation." Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci. 105(2) 35-44.

There is a field guide that is available:

How to Know the Lichens, Second Edition by Mason E. Hale, publisher WM. C. Brown.

Some may find this book useful but it seems to rely extensively on chemical tests for determining what species a lichen belongs to. That sort of takes all the fun out of it for me.

There is a huge, coffee-table sized book that is a pleasure to read:

Lichens of North America, by Irwin M Brodo, Sylvia Duran Sharnoff, and Stephen Sharnoff. 2001 Yale University Press, New Haven and London.

This book is quite expensive and worth every penny.

I am certainly no expert on the lichens but I find them very fascinating to photograph. The photo above right is apparently Cladonia fimbriata, growing in the middle of a true moss.

The photo on the left is probably Cladonia pezizifromis. It was growing on a wet sandstone cliff in Cedar Bluffs State Preserve, Mahaska County Iowa. The mass at the upper right of the photo was ice that was in the process of melting and re-freezing.

I don't know of any lichen interest groups in Iowa but there do seem to be a few knowledgeable individuals around.