Along the lower bole of the beech there appears a deposit of colour, not moss-green, not lichen-grey, but a thin accrual of orange, as though the tree has been brushed by oxidised light.
It occupies the bark surface without negotiation. It neither penetrates nor retreats. It requires no permission from the tree and offers none in return. Its interests are limited to light of a certain obliquity, air of a particular softness, and moisture delivered without acidity. Where these conditions fail, it is absent. Where they return, it resumes its place, as if continuing a sentence interrupted decades earlier.
The beech remains unconcerned. Its vascular affairs proceed beneath the surface, indifferent to this orange residency. No theft occurs. No alliance is formed. The relationship is strictly lateral.
Trentepohlia is sometimes classed among parasites by those who require every organism to declare an allegiance. This is a misunderstanding. It does not exploit. It persists. It is not active in the drama of decay, nor does it contribute to construction. It merely inhabits the boundary layer, the thin jurisdiction between bark and air, where few things are tolerated and fewer endure.
During the industrial interval it vanished. The air at that time was unsuitable, sharp with sulphur, corrosive to exposed lives. The bark was scoured clean of such tenants. Now the atmosphere has relaxed its hostility. The rain arrives altered. The alga, having waited elsewhere, returns without ceremony.
Below, moss consolidates the damp. Above, the trunk remains bare. Between the two, Trentepohlia maintains its orange claim, neither advancing nor withdrawing, a surface phenomenon.
So…
𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐲 and 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧-𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐭 www.bobwalks.eu ?
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