In case anyone stumbles onto this page today, here’s a festive Christmas lichen (Cryptothecia rubrocincta) that I photographed several years ago in Myakka River State Park, Florida.

The red projections in the middle are isidia, vegetative outgrowths that can break off and form new lichens. Each little piece will have bits of the requisite fungal (Cryptothecia rubrocincta) and algal species (Trentepohlia sp.) that team up to bring us this lichen.