Stories of Cabeceiras

In a lichen, a fungus associates with an alga or cyanobacterium capable of photosynthesis. The photosynthetic partner provides nutrients; the fungus helps protect it from drying and radiation.

The University of Évora describes crustose, foliose and fruticose forms, among others. This offers a new way to notice surfaces and textures without confusing colour with identification. This story explains lichen biology; it is not an inventory of species confirmed in Cabeceiras.

Reproduction can carry the partnership too: lichen fragments can disperse both partners together. By contrast, the fungus’s spores need to encounter a photosynthetic partner to form a new lichen.

The shapes can resemble a crust, divided leaves or small shrubs. These words describe appearance, with boundaries that are not always rigid. Lichens are not mosses either: mosses are plants, whereas lichens are classified with fungi.

The growing surface deserves attention too: lichens may grow on rocks, bark, soil and artificial surfaces. The University of Évora explains that identification combines appearance with substrate and habitat; sometimes it requires microscopy or other specialist methods. A photograph can record the encounter without resolving the name.

Another aspect is the study of air. Lichens can accumulate compounds from the atmosphere and are used as bioindicators or biomonitors. A patch on a wall cannot, by itself, classify a village’s air quality. That conclusion requires a suitable study, just as assessing a river combines different observations.

Pedro Andrade’s record from 31 January 2025 shows Lobarina scrobiculata in Abadim, according to the check of its published point against CAOP2025. Pale lobes and depressions in the surface stand out among green mosses.

The University of Trieste’s ITALIC portal describes a foliose thallus and an association with cyanobacteria of the genus Nostoc. Its leafy appearance does not make it a plant: this lichen is an association between partners.

The source describes colour differences between the dry and wet thallus. A single image cannot show that change over time. Compare visible shapes and surface features without wetting or removing the lichen to experiment.

ITALIC describes the species on old deciduous trees and mossy rocks in damp, open woodland. It also mentions mainly asexual reproduction through soredia. These are general characteristics of the species; the Abadim record documents the published photograph and location, not a study of all these processes at the site.

The broad, rounded lobes contrast with the lichen Lasallia pustulata, also photographed in Abadim. Comparing the two helps show that a leafy appearance does not mean the same shape or the same way of attaching to a surface.

In Pedro Andrade’s photograph from 31 January 2025, a brownish-grey lichen has rounded bumps on a rock. The record is identified as Lasallia pustulata and located in Abadim by checking its public point against CAOP2025.

The University of Évora describes this species as saxicolous, meaning it lives on rock. Its thallus is umbilicate: it attaches to the surface only at its centre. The raised bumps on the upper face are another detail described by the source.

The photograph shows the relief but not the attachment point hidden underneath. Comparing what is visible with what the description explains is a way to learn without lifting or detaching the lichen.

Évora’s profile describes a single lobe that can reach ten centimetres, with small branched structures called isidia along its edges. The surface may have a whitish coating called pruina. Outline, edge and relief are three different observations; no measurement should be estimated from the photograph without a known scale.

Bryophytes are small plants whose life cycle depends heavily on moisture. Their diversity is not only green: there are different shapes, colours and textures. According to the scientific presentation from Serralves, they contribute to nutrient recycling and can colonise surfaces where other plants cannot yet establish themselves, helping soil form. Learning about this group brings new questions to a walk, without needing to pull up specimens.

Mosses have no true roots. Kew describes rhizoids as small filaments whose main role is anchoring the plant to rock, bark or soil. Absorbent surfaces help take up water and minerals from the surroundings. Contact with moisture is therefore part of how they live.

They do not produce flowers either: they reproduce through spores. Spaces between the small plants help retain water, keeping the soil and nearby surroundings moist. These carpets can also shelter small animals.

This does not mean all mosses need the same conditions. Species are adapted to very different environments, and some survive dry periods in a dormant state. A green patch on a wall is not enough to identify a species or explain its whole life cycle.