After the NWL & CALS meeting in Arcata, Einar and I left the lush and wet northern parts of California and started our field work looking for Psora species on the way to the SO BE FREE workshop in the Mojave Desert. We spent a few nights camping, visited the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden Lichen Collection, and drove more than 800 miles to Zzyzx, California.
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| Camping with a tent and rental camper van, outfitted with a bed and kitchen. |
We found one of our first Psora field sites with the help of Jason Dart, a local lichenologist.
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Field site with soil crust lichens, including Psora pacifica & P. pruinosa.
 | Soil crust Psora pacifica
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We visited the
Santa Barbara Botanical Garden to meet with the lichen curator, Dr. Rikke Næsborg. We then looked through as many collections as we could in one day, adding identifications and taking samples for DNA extraction.
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| Einar & Rikke in Santa Barbara. |
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| "Conservation Happens Here", Santa Barbara Botanical Garden |
On the way to the Mojave, we started to see Joshua trees, Yucca brevifolia.
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| Annie with a Joshua Tree. |
SO BE FREE is a field meeting hosted by the Bryologist Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. This year the meeting attracted approximately 60 cryptogamologists to Zzyzx, CA.
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| Annie, Einar, and Brent at the Desert Studies Center in Zzyzx, CA. |
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| Zzyzx is next to a salt flat. |
For the first field day, Einar and I carpooled to Clark Mountain to look for Psora.
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| Field day at Clark Mountain. |
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| Lunch time at Clark Mountain. |
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| Psora sp. |
For the second field day, we drove on our own to look for lichens in the lower parts of the Mojave National Preserve.
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| Mojave National Preserve |
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| Multiple Psora species amongst other lichen species. |
Last day at Zzyzx with the other participants of SO BE FREE.
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