Favoritos de knotwood

Growing underwater in the river at a depth of about a third of a meter. Location was almost the same as a sighting from the previous week
Spores: (10.2) 10.3 - 11.5 (12.1) × (6.1) 6.3 - 6.65 (6.7) µm
Q = (1.6) 1.64 - 1.8 ; N = 9
Me = 11.1 × 6.5 µm ; Qe = 1.7

11.53 6.39
10.62 6.46
11.33 6.68
11.09 6.51
10.21 6.14
10.33 6.43
11.54 6.27
10.83 6.55
12.13 6.65

Substrate may be Pinus. Immersed perithecia emerging in a cushion-like stroma. There is white material between the ostioles. There is a yellow staining to the wood. Asci IKI-, 50-64 x 5-6µm, the spore bearing part 30-39µm. The spores are ellipsoid, light brown, with two guttules, 5-7 x 2.5-3µm, no visible septa. There is what appears to be a germ pore at one end.

I apologize for the not-great photos, but this is absolutely Peltigera gowardii, confirmed by Eldorado National Forest botanists. So stoked to have seen this rare unique lichen in its natural habitat!

on the lower trunk of a large Quercus rubra, in a Northern Red Oak / heath forest on a ridgetop near the Yadkin Valley Overlook east of Blowing Rock on the Blue Ridge Parkway, Watauga County, North Carolina, ca. 1170 meters elevation - May 18, 2021

No chemical tests done and no specimen made for what would be a significant new range extension.