While I was mulching the Coral Tree twigs and leaves and being very careful not to touch the thorns, I was amazed at the lichen growing along the wood. Most of the woody parts of the tree limbs was covered with what appeared to be quite established lichen.
The wood itself was reasonably fragile when compared to the eucalyptus sticks that I was mulching and I suspect it is just the nature of the tree itself being a native of the tropics and sub-tropics and being of lite fibre, thus falling easily to being a host to lichen as the wood retains moisture. I theorised that this will be a useful bit of serendipity to have this lichen mulched up with the rest of the twigs and leaves while they rest for a couple of weeks awaiting the new garden beds.
That is something I never gave any thought to; the lichens in mulch, and what they might contribute.
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Yes, I’m looking forward to seeing what occurs. I’ve bred mycorrhiza spores before, though I suspect this will be a little different given the nature of the lichen and its unique environment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhiza
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