Elegant Sunburst Lichen

Description:

The apothecia on these rosette forming Xanthoria elegans are so dense here (also because of the focus of this picture), that there is only one place here where you can clearly see the radiating lobes of the foliose thallus. A common but typically incredibly picturesque lichen that always grows on rocks that are nitrogen enriched and that are completely exposed to the sun. They lack soredia. April 20, 2010, Wasatch Front, Mt. Olympus foothills, Salt Lake County, Utah, between 4,920 to 4,970 ft. elev. West-facing slope, growing on quartzite of the very old Big Cottonwood Formation.