The word cemetery has its roots in the Greek, meaning ‘sleeping place.’ In Cow Bay, this place is the Bowes Cemetery located just off Cow Bay Road.
Typical of many outdoor surfaces in Cow Bay, both the cemetery sign and several headstones are covered with lichens.
The ones on the sign include usnea hirta, also known as Old Man’s Beard. The lichens on the headstones are particularly bright in colour. This provides an especially striking contrast on the dark stones.
Yellow lichens contain usnic acid. Some German scientists have researched the site preferences of different types of lichens and concluded that the yellow varieties are most likely to prefer sub-strata that is also more acidic.
This cemetery is the only place in Cow Bay where I’ve noticed yellow-coloured lichens. Most are the dull greenish grey characteristic of the Old Man’s Beard.
Jessica at Jessica’s Nature Blog has photographed several bright varieties of lichens in her neck of the woods in the UK. When I first saw them, I wondered why these brighter varieties were less common here in Cow Bay. Perhaps the sub-strata is more acidic in her area.
Regardless of the science behind their preferences, these lichens add their own distinct beauty to this special sleeping place overlooking the ocean.
A grave is braced not just by a tombstone but by angels as well.
~Adabella Radici
For more information on the Bowes Cemetery in Cow Bay, see This Life of Mortal Breath.
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I like this. One of my favorite early photos was in a cemetery. The lichen is beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
I feel a challenge brewing to find more of that golden lichen in the area.
Love the pics.
Sybil
Your photos of the setting (?) sun behind the tombstones are awesome….they seem so serene. And I learned something new today – what the word cemetary means…cool!
“The Sleeping Place”. I love that meaning to the cemetery. Cemeteries so often have such a hushed beautiful ambience. Perhaps it’s the lichens which add to it.
Yousei, Cindy, Sybil and Kathy, thank you for your comments.
Yes those lichens are beautiful Yousei. As Kathy mentioned, they do seem to give the impression that the place they are growing in is quiet and undisturbed.
Sybil, perhaps we should go on a lichen hunt together.
Cindy, that was actually a rising sun. Sunrises and sunsets often look so similar.