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| Colourful lichen community on montane rocks of South Island New Zealand |
The high alpine rain forests of South Island New Zealand are amongst the wettest places on earth with heavy rain for five days out of seven and annual rainfall ranging from five to eight metres!
The constant humidity provides perfect conditions for moisture loving plants like mosses, ferns and lichens.
Many rocks are covered with several species of lichen but the most eye-catching is undoubtedly the bright orange/red Xanthoria species pictured here. It seems to be displaced by more dominant lichen species as their colonies spread over the rock, providing a background to their more subdued palette of greens, greys and pinks. But the overall effect is a beautiful painterly abstract on the rock surface.
