Diario del proyecto Flora of Chickakoo Lake Recreation Area

Dog Pelts, Frog Pelts, Elizabethan Pelts and more. These large leafy lichens play an important role in nitrogen fixation and soil stabilization. In Chickakoo they can be found plastered to the almost vertical soil banks along some of the hilly trails. A key thing to remember: don't be superficial! Lift a lobe and look at the 'veins' and rhizines on the lower surface to help you identify species in this genus.

Peltigera elisabethae Lovely shiny grey lobes, often with abundant cracks and lobules on top, the rhizines form concentric rings below and the veins are broad to nonexistent.

Peltigera canina group. Look for downturned, fuzzy lobes with paintbrush like rhizines below.
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Peltigera neckeri Look for hotdog shaped black apothecia on erect lobes.
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The fruticose species are those that live in three dimensions. No clasping of bark for these species or shrinking flat to the ground - they live large, stand tall, exposed and vulnerable. Which means that they tend to be more restricted in range or lower in abundance than their foliose friends. Fruticose lichens include shrubby, club-like, cupped, and hair-like lichens. There are a few gems to be found at Chickakoo, but you need to look harder for them. Here are a few examples. We'll see if we can add to that list on our walk.

Cladonia scabriuscula With tips branching like little jester-hats, these wand-like Cladonia seem to enjoy perching on wood or soil in humid forests.
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Other Cladonia species observed at Chickakoo include C. coniocraea, C. fimbriata, and C. chlorophaea.

Evernia mesomorpha Commonly called Boreal oakmoss. Scrubby and tough, this lichen grows in most of our forested stands and can even grow on rocks or soil in the right circumstances.
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Usnea species. The Beard lichens are definitely more sensitive, and in dry and urban environments, they stay small, making identification even more challenging.
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How could we wait until the third post to highlight the lichens that brighten up Chickakoo! Maybe because we need to take better local images. From the size of a dinner plate to lobes less than a millimeter across, these sunny species are a pleasure to learn.

Flavopunctelia flaventior Yellow-green, white dotted lobes with coarse soredia. Sometimes difficult to discriminate from the co-occurring F. soredica. Many large, lovely thalli to be found.
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Xanthomendoza fallax The nest-like, crescent-shaped soralia that arise between the two layers of the lichen are unique.
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Xanthomendoza hasseana/montana If it is orange, apotheciate, and has white rhizines, it goes here. Beyond that - genetic work is ongoing to determine if we've identified these two similar species correctly.
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Candelaria pacifica Teeny, tiny, verging on crustose, with ascending lobes.
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Alberta is home to a lovely diversity of brown foliose lichens in the genera Melanohalea, Melanelixia, Melanelia, Phaeophyscia, Physconia, and Tuckermannopsis. Without fail however, new students of lichenology find the 'smelly Melies' challenging. Cryptic, often camouflaging with their substrate, and requiring examination of tiny features such as skin-tag-like isidia cause consternation. But stick with it - to know them is to love them. Or at least tolerate - or maybe appreciate? Regardless, Chickakoo is home to some lovely examples of brown foliose lichens.

But first - a further caution - these species actually vary in color from grey to brown to green, depending on whether they are wet or dry, as well as the phenotypic response to the niche the colony is occupying!

Melanelixia albertana Shiny lobes sporting lovely, white, lip-like soralia, I've never seen colonies as big as those found here.
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Melanelixia subaurifera The epithet translates to "gold beneath", a squinty reference to the greenish-gold algae visible where the upper layer erodes into tiny propagules.
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Phaeophyscia orbicularis Impressively variable, from grey to brown, or messy to tidy, look for the tell-tale circular soralia on the surface.
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Melanohalea species. The most common epiphytic member of this species in Alberta is M. septentrionalis but Edmonton and region host some additional species that require chemistry and spore examination for certain ID.
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Physconia species. The frost lichens are characterized by the white crystals edging their lobes and their very branchy, white-tipped rhizines. Four species make their home in Edmonton and environs.
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Chickakoo is one of my favorite hiking places close to Edmonton. The aspen dominated mixedwoods blend with birch stands, and the little lakes and rolling topography are welcome after the tablelands of my Edmonton 'hood. Both are open and humid enough to host a fun diversity of epiphytic (=tree-dwelling) lichens.

The flora is typical of the Parkland and dry Boreal Natural Regions, but the protected nature of Chickakoo means that some lichen colonies have grown impressively large. From plate-sized Flavopunctelia to copious colonies of Alberta's namesake lichen (Melanelixia albertana), Chickakoo is a fun place to get to know some of our central Alberta lichens.

The most common growth form is the leafy lichens. Like many dry and periurban areas, fruticose lichens are more limited.

In support of a casual ANPC walk, here are a list of some of the species to be seen, organized by growth form and color. I will start with the grey foliose, from largest to smallest.

If you are looking for more than the short biobits below, try this resource with images, keys, and descriptions of all lichens known from Edmonton. To date it also covers all of the lichens I’ve observed at Chickakoo.
Haughland, D.L., A. Hood, D. Thauvette, S.A. Toni, M. Cao, J.D. Birch, J. Wasyliw, L. Hjartarson, M. Villeneuve, A. Stordock, D.A. Fielder, M. Lewis, D. Evans, D. Royko, R. Bolduc, H. Webster, J.D. Singh, K.A. Schafer, S. Goyette, H.E. Davidson & C. Shier. 2022. Getting to know our biomonitor neighbours: urban lichens and allied fungi of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Opuscula Philolichenum 21: 33-181.

Freely available at: https://www.nhm2.uio.no/botanisk/lav/RLL/PDF/R43924.pdf or http://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/op/biblio_details.php?irn=484805

Punctelia caseana Look for the white dotted upper surface and the pale lower with buzz-cut-like attachments (=rhizines).
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Parmelia sulcata An Alberta chameleon, look for the hammered upper skin and the jet black lower surface with black rhizines that branch like little pipecleaners.
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Phaeophyscia kairamoi They key trait is the granular soredia that develop tiny hairs, bristling around the lobe margins.
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Physcia aipolia Look for flat narrow lobes with sponge-painting like white marks (=maculae) and the tightly-attached black fruiting bodies.
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Heterodermia galactophylla (one of my favorite finds - how can you not love a centipede lichen). The ends of the lobes form lip-like soralia, and the edges of the lobes sprout multi-branched cilia.
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Physcia stellaris Like aipolia, but lobes more convex and fruiting bodies on little stipes.
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Physcia adscendens A tiny and common lichen, made of little more than hooded soralia and cilia. Superficially similiar to but smaller than Heterodermia.
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