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Summary

Description
English: Norstictic Acid Crystals

Scientific Name: Aspicilia cinerea (L.) Korber

Common Name: Cinder Lichen

Certainty: positive (notes)

Location: Canadian Rockies; Wells Gray Provincial Park; Edgewood Blue

Date: 2008-04-15

This is what happens if you add KOH to an apothecial section while watching under the compound microscope. Out of seemingly nowhere all these cool red radiating needle-like crystals form. This is a reaction of the lichen substance norstictic acid with KOH.

Macroscopically, if you put a drop of KOH on the nice ashy-white surface, it also turns a very pleasing bright red. Always amusing, no matter how many times you see it!

Apparently, the shape of the crystal is diagnostic of the type of acid present. They will also show up nicely under cross-polarized light, but I'm not set up to get good photos of that yet.
Date
Source Norstictic Acid Crystals
Author Jason Hollinger

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This image was originally posted to Flickr by pellaea at https://www.flickr.com/photos/7147684@N03/2421984969. It was reviewed on 24 January 2012 by FlickreviewR and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.

24 January 2012

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17 April 2008

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Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current13:05, 24 January 2012Thumbnail for version as of 13:05, 24 January 2012800 × 800 (114 KB)Jacopo Werther{{Information |Description=Scientific Name: ''Aspicilia cinerea'' (L.) Korber Common Name: Cinder Lichen Certainty: positive ([http://bornnaturalist.org/notes/20080415#7 notes]) Location: Canadian Rockies; Wells Gray Provincial Park; Edgewood Blue Date: 2

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