For the Friday feature this week, why don’t we focus on a specific genus of fungi? It’s Friday the 13th, a day of superstition and fear of weird occurrences. The best that I can do in that department is to share something weird looking…

C.J. Hibbard, photographer for the Department of Botany, captured four different species of Buellia lichen fungi at Grand Marais in July of 1902. Buellia sort of resembles a doily (particularly the spiraca species). What does it look like to you?

(Click on the image for a larger version)

– Buellia geographica

– Buellia alboatra (Diplotomma alboatrum)

– Buellia lactea

– Buellia spiraca