On Tuesday evening we arrived at São Paulo and three of us
went for dinner.
The next morning we were picked up by Adriana and Viviana
from the Instituto de Botânica SP and left for the Itatiaia National Park. It
was established in 1937 and is Brazil’s oldest national park with an area of
300 km2. Here we were going to spend the next couple of days in the
subtropical part of the Mata Atlântica. This is one of the few areas with
Atlantic rainforest remaining in South America.
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| Casa do Pesquisadores - our quarters |
During the first afternoon, we went for a short walk to get
an impression of the lichen flora; and we were rewarded with many interesting Phyllopsora species.
The following day, we drove further up to a height of 1100 m
and split into two teams for collecting. We went on different trails and found
almost 70 specimens! Among others Physcidia,
Crocynia and Phyllopsora cinchonarum. Surprisingly, we also discovered the genus
Eschatogonia which we did not know
occurred in southern Brazil!
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| Phyllopsora sp. |
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| maybe Phyllopsora cinchonarum? |
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| and surprisingly Eschatogonia! |
However, not only the lichens caught our attention...
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| a beautiful Iridaceae |
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| a Morpho butterfly |
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| a big little fellow crossing our path |
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| a funny catterpillar |
After a long day in the field we went to Downtown Itatiaia
and ate a lovely, traditional dinner: PIZZA. :)
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| the tasty pizza :) |
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| working in the evening |
Before leaving the national park, we went on a last hike.
Phyllopsoras grew on every tree and also more Eschatogonia could be found!
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| view from the path |
Now we are leaving back to civilization in São Paulo!
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