UK Fungi

Me too for the Cladonia idea

Yes, I'd be interested Neil, depending on what/when etc.

Dave

I bumped into this whilst working in a woodland on Dartmoor and was instantly reminded of a pic of Neil's Graphis handelii from the New Forest. Whitish thallus, somewhere between scripta and elegans in initial appearance, elegans style 'pursed lips' of young lirellae, but unfurrowed margins on matur...

Flicking through 'Microchemical methods' the other day I spotted this at the end of the section on 'KOH confluentic acid test' which references Alan's 1992 paper.... 'A solution of sodium hydroxide will also produce some droplets [as with actual KOH], but these are rapidly replaced by needle-like cr...

That's funny, I'd just yesterday drafted a post on Megalospora tuberculosa, prompted by a very sorediate specimen of something I think is probably tuberculosa, which led me to thinking about the K/UV for atranorin, and just the UV itself. I'll finish it and post it anyway, might be of interest. Chee...

Thanks Neil. The K/UV worked ‑ a good mauve reaction.

Cheers

Dave

Thanks Neil, handy to know the K/UV, will give it a go later.

And handy to know about KOH vs NaOH, wikipedia suggested KOH is 'strongly exothermic' when mixed with water so, yes, NaOH may be safer!

Thanks Alan. Well, that's intriguing, I've just checked the ingredients of the caustic soda I use and it is indeed NaOH! So it seems my 'K' has actually been Na for a few years now! Life's full of surprises. Are KOH and NaOH completely interchangeable or it worth actually tracking down some KOH? And...

Hi, I've been dabbling in the world of saxicolous lichens for a change and think I have Lecidea confluens, maybe. One of the most obvious features under the microscope was the formation of some pretty spectacular crystals with the addition of K, see pics. There is no mention of this in LGBI that I c...

Thanks Neil

Thanks for the introduction to this method Neil, it's been a revelation! And a spectacular one at that. As suggested, most of my 'chlaro' I'm seeing here in coastal NW Wales has turned out to be argentata. These two seem pretty straightforward, but I'm struggling a little with possible hybocarpa spe...

Thanks Neil. That's exciting. There was an orange-brown pigment in the hymenium/epithecium alongside violet and blues which didn't quite match descriptions in the Flora for the others. What shall I do with the specimen - who best to send it to for confirmation one way or the other? I'd normally send...