You wouldn’t believe the amount of reading I do about each picture I publish here. It’s probably one of the main reasons why I am currently so far behind! However, it’s also one of the ‘gifts’ of this project as far as I’m concerned.

I go out in search of something interesting to photograph every single day. If there is a story to tell, then I’ll do my best to tell it. Sometimes though, like today, I have a picture that doesn’t have a story, it’s just something that caught my eye. Nevertheless, I inevitably do a little research about the picture, and today I’ve learned that this tree lichen is (probably) called ‘Sun Burst Lichen’ or Xanthoria parietina for those of you who like to get technical.

I probably read more than I needed to about lichen, and who knows how much of what I’ve learned will be retained. But here’s the thing, let’s say I’m at a party and someone starts talking about tree lichen, my first thought will be ‘how did my life come to this,’ but then I might be able to say something like; “Well, of course, the water extract of Xanthoria parietina has good antiviral activity in vitro, inhibiting the replication of human parainfluenza virus type 2.”

Oh yes, I am truly a party animal!

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Stand here using Google street view.