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Lichens

© Zany

English science fiction writer John Wyndham wrote a book called Trouble with Lichen. The protagonist in the story works in a biochemistry lab and discovers that a particular type of lichen can slow the aging process in humans. Of course this is fiction (so far), but what exactly are lichens (pronounced ly kuhn or like n).

To answer the question what are lichens, come with me to LichenLand-Fun with Lichen by Oregon State University. Here we find that lichens are a friendship between an alga and a fungus. They live together for their mutual benefit. I love the cute graphic. The alga provides food for both and the fungus provides a house or thallus-a simple vegetative plant body undifferentiated into true leaves, stem and root. This type of relationship is called symbiotic. The main purpose of this site is to help you learn about lichen and identify them. Listed on the query page are characteristics of lichen. If you are not exactly sure about a characteristic, click on the picture and read the explanation. There are 15 characteristics altogether. Select a characteristic then click on "retrieve" to process the query. The result will be lichens that exhibit that particular characteristic. Take awhile to play with this. The site has some stunning pictures of lichen. You will really be amazed at their beauty and diversity.

To learn more about lichens how about dropping by North American Lichen Project . In the The special biology of lichen section, lichens are defined. Here, the distinction is made between algae and cyanobacteria or what use to be called blue-green algae either of which or both can pair with a fungus to form lichens. There is a short section on how lichens reproduce and where they grow. Lichens grow in unlikely spots such as bare rocks, deserts, dead wood or bark on a tree. (An interesting short write-up about lichen is found at The Amazing Kingdom Of Fungi . Click on "Lichens-Nature's perfect marriage". It states that lichens live practically in every conceivable habitat on earth, having been found on masonry, tombstones and statues, stained glass windows, and on the President's faces at Mount Rushmore National Memorial. While you are there, read about Swiss botanist Simon Schwendener who first proposed the dual symbiotic nature of lichens.) Back to North American Lichen Project which boasts an excellent lichen picture gallery. Again, take your time and browse through the pictures and appreciate how beautiful, colourful and diverse lichens are. They are simply amazing. Lichens are listed by their Latin names, but a few have common names. For example, Alectoria sarmentosa is also known as "witch's hair" because it looks like witch's hair :-).

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