Wayne's Word Index Noteworthy Plants Trivia Lemnaceae Biology 101 Botany Search  Owens Peak   San Marcos & Merriam Mts   Santa Rosa Plateau Rocks   Santa Rosa Plateau Lichens   Oaks in San Diego County  Lake Calavera Preserve: Carlsbad, California © W.P. Armstrong 26 April 2009 Lake Calavera with 513-ft. "Mount Calavera" in the distance. The "mountain" is actually a 22 million-year-old volcanic plug: A mass of volcanic rock that solidified in the vent of an ancient volcano. After millions of years, the volcano has eroded away leaving only the resistant core. The western face was mined for gravel in the early 1900s, leaving a precipitous vertical cliff. Boulder covered by crustose lichens. The lemon-yellow lichen is probably Acarospora socialis. Although this lichen appears to fit the description for A. schleicheri in Lichens of California by M. E. Hale (1988), most modern lichen floras state that A. schleicheri is a soil (terricolous) species. In fact, even A. H. Magnusson (1929) describes A. schleicheri as a soil lichen in "The Yellow Species of Acarospora in North America" (Mycologia 21 (5): 249-260). In the latter reference under "growing on stone" this yellow lichen keys out to A. socialis. Fagaceae: Quercus dumosa (Nuttall's Scrub Oak) Quercus dumosa surrounded by shrubs of the coastal sage scrub, including lemonadeberry (Rhus integrifolia) and coastal sagebrush (Artemisia californica). Plantaginaceae: Plantago rhodosperma (Red-Seeded Plantain) This small annual with reddish seeds is listed as a synonym of Plantago virginica in the 1996 Jepson Manual. Cyperaceae: Scirpus californicus (California Bulrush)   Sedge Family Floral Terminology   Harlequin Bug Nymph (Pentatomidae) On Black Mustard Harlequin bug nymph (Murgantia histrionica).   Say's Stinkbug Nymphs & Adults In Anza-Borrego Desert   Return To WAYNE'S WORD Home Page Return To NOTEWORTHY PLANTS Page Go To Biology GEE WHIZ TRIVIA Page Go To The LEMNACEAE ON-LINE Page All text material & images on these pages copyright © W.P. Armstrong