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Some Lichens of southern Labrador, July 2008 |
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These are pictures of lichens and a few of the many species of low-growing plants that thrive on Battle Harbour and Great Caribou Island, just off the southeast coast of Labrador. Battle Harbour, the former salt-fish capital of Labrador, is now a historic site, open to visitors from mid-June to mid-September each year. Great Caribou Island is a larger island just across the harbour. This is sub-arctic terrain, with exposed rock where lichens flourish, as well as marshy areas and drier patches where a huge variety of lichens, mosses and many other plants and ground-hugging bushes grow together into a lush, thick garden. There are clear cold lakes, and lingering patches of snow even in mid-July. What grows near to the ground is so incredibly varied and vibrant, but easily unseen unless you get down low and look closely. The colour palette on the ground is always shifting. A pale brown, dry and dead-looking lichen may instantly change to a beautifully subtle coral-coloured, delicately-soft mound at the touch of rain. The sky can be clear blue for a full day, but usually there is more variation than that - the weather changes fast, and a bank of grey or black cloud will alter the colours of the whole landscape. This is just a sampling of the lichens and plants that grow here.
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