DescriptionPink fungal parasite on lichen - geograph.org.uk - 1040204.jpg
English: Pink fungal parasite on lichen. Quite a few groups of these conspicuous pink fungal blobs were found growing on this rowan tree, and on others nearby. The area in which the trees stand is at the edge of some willow carr woodland. The fungi were generally seen on, or in close proximity to, lichen covering the tree, occasionally even growing upon the apothecia (spore-producing discs) of the lichen.
The individual blobs are about 2 or 3 millimetres in diameter. They appear rather glutinous when wet.
They are the sclerotia of a fungus that is parasitic upon lichens (a sclerotium is a mass of fungal tissue that "is a survival or perennating body", i.e., it allows the fungus to sit out unfavourable conditions).
In this area, I encountered such pink fungi on the lichen Parmelia sulcata; in a nearby quarry, I found similar pink fungi growing on the lichen Physcia adscendens. For another fungal parasite (I don't know whether it is the same species or not), see 1037553.
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== {{int:filedesc}} == {{Information |description={{en|1=Pink fungal parasite on lichen Quite a few groups of these conspicuous pink fungal blobs were found growing on this rowan tree, and on others nearby. The area in which the trees stand is at the edge