Ok i finally looked up a lichen i found a few months ago in the woods on the way to arcadia park off the bike trail to easthampton ma.
Lecanora thysanophora, cool structure, i should get it under the scope and see what on earth it is doing. watching it grow wld be cool too.
I don't know why it grows that outer band of white fibers. the mealy center portion is where it comes apart in tiny bits to blow around to new tree trunks to grow on. These guys don't seem to be having any sex. I think this species rarely does. Many lichens DO have sex. In the pics of species from waysofenlichenment you see many with rimmed dots. those are where two separate fungi critters are intertwined, having sex and making spores to blow off in the wind.
Remember, being a lichen, this critter isn't eating the bark or digging into the tree, it's just resting there letting it's internal captured single celled algae (Trebouxia) grow food for it from the air and sunlight.
Lecanora is a rather diverse genus, you have no doubt seen it. grows on wood and rock and stone walls.
(my photos)
https://www.waysofenlichenment.net/lichens/Lecanora/
oh by the way... those reddish crisscrossy veins... are a liverwort. i should make a post for them too eh? Frulliana species. here's some from underneath under the microscope.
and here's a pic of one of their fruiting bodies springing out spores with their springy thingies.
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