Hello! I am very excited to introduce myself. My name is Nick Moore. I am looking forward to sharing the world of Colorado Lichens and I hope to be a regular contributor to this wonderful site that has been built over the years.

So who am I, you might ask. I am someone who has always loved nature, who only recently decided to learn the ways of lichens, and has leapt headfirst into this new world. Hopefully those that stumble across these posts want to come along for the ride.

Why don’t we start with some of my favorite local species. These are some charismatic species that can be found on just about every hike through the lower foothills of Boulder County.

By far the most common orange lichen on rock along the front range. Older references may refer to this species a Xanthoria elegans.

The answer to what’s that yellow on that rock over there along much of the front range. This lichen has an amazing need to be on vertical rock faces.

In a prelude to what I hope will be a future blogpost this species has been taxonomically unsettled in the state. So I would not be surprised to someday learn that this is the wrong name for this lichen or even that multiple species are involved. That day may come as soon as the right person reads this paragraph!

Perhaps my favorite front range lichen. Once you learn it you will find it very common on sunny exposed rocks. But, unlike the previous species you will find is accompanied by a whole host of similar colored species. Identifying lichens is hard, observing them in all their beauty is easy.

Start walking up your favorite foothill trail. When you get to a nice cool spot under the shade of a big conifer, look down into the tangle of moss and lichen at the roots of the tree. One of the lichens you find is sure to be this wonderful foliose lichen and you’ll soon find it on other substrates as well. Just be sure to note the raised web of white tissue forming what look like cracks (pseudocyphellae) characteristic of the genus. Keep searching and you will find that sulcata is not the only member of the genus present in Colorado.

I hope you enjoyed the post. Perhaps you noted that each photo here links to my iNaturalist observation for the lichen. I hope to have iNaturalist be a constant part of my posts here, and you can always see more of my photos by searching for @nickmoore91. I post everything from birds, insects, fungi and more. Feel free to reach out!

My CO Lichen Observations – Warning some non-lichenized ascomycete fungi show up in that search!