The text and paintings on The Trowbridge Chronicles are taken from the illustrated journal of Violet Trowbridge, a shrew that once lived in a village deep in the Olympic Rain Forest. Each new post will represent a portion of Mrs. Trowbridge’s journal.

Showing posts with label lichen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lichen. Show all posts

Saturday, June 05, 2010

SPLASH!

Just up the trail, upstream from Huckleberry Hollow was a calm spot in Wild Rose Creek that served as the swimming hole for the shrew children. They would while away many summer days frolicking in the swimming hole.

If you look carefully at Mrs. Trowbridge's painting, you will see some orange flecks of color on the rocks. This is lichen (pronounced "liken"), a composite organism made up of fungus and green algae. Lichen that grows on rocks is called crustose lichen. I photographed the example above on the summit of Blue Mountain in the Olympic Mountain Range.