"Lichens are fungi that have discovered agriculture"
- lichenologist Trevor Goward.
I want to thank those who commented on my last post requesting more stories about my Mom and me and I've started looking through old pictures that help tell the tale..
Meanwhile, I hope you don't think this picture Eeyore took of several different kinds of lichen, on malapai rock is a cop out! You can click to get a closer look.
Lichen is amazing in that it's composed of fungi that live in cooperation with algae, bacteria or both. Since fungi is not capable of photosynthesis, the process of utilizing light to process food, it has formed a cooperative union with plants that do utilize photosynthesis, or a fungi lives with bacteria that can draw nitrogen from the air to make biologically useful compounds, or both.
If you want to know more about lichen, I found this wonderful site that tells all about them.. some are thought to be the oldest life forms on earth.. and the site also provides a fascinating picture gallery.
I've been calling some lichens moss for years! Who knew!
