EPIPHYTIC LICHENS
In the western part of the Baja California peninsula of Mexico, the winds blow humid air from the Pacific Ocean and enable lichens to grow abundantly on the desert plants. In this case the lichen is a species of Ramalina, growing on the trunk of a boojum tree (Cirio). The common name of this lichen is "Spanish moss" but it is not a moss at all. Another plant called "Spanish moss" grows in the maritime regions of of the south-eastern USA - for example in Louisiana around New Orleans. But that plant is a member of the pineapple family, related to the "Ball moss" of Baja California.
Other lichens, though less common, grow on the moister windward sides of plants exposed to the humid Pacific air. In this case a crust-like lichen and a young Ramalina are growing on the bark of a desert shrub (cliff spurge, Euphorbia misera). |
