Lichen is a beautiful, alien being that seems to grow everywhere in British Columbia – logs, branches, stumps, shingles, even metal or rocks. There are many variations of lichen, including lungwort, liverworts, shrub lichens, leaf lichens, beard lichens, club lichens, and dust (also called “crust”) lichens. I only cover some of these lichen types in this post.
Lungwort is a fibrous, thick lichen that blooms in humid forests across British Columbia. Its texture resembles leathery skin, and the spread of the lichen itself seems like lung tissue (hence its name, lungwort). It was used by late doctors and medical people to treat pneumonia and other lung-like illnesses, likely from its lung tissue resemblance. Lungwort can only be found in areas where the air is non-polluted – where the air quality worsens, this lichen shrivels and dies.
Shrub lichens are distinguished by their antler-like shape, and are very common in forests and any wood structures. Some of these lichens, like gray reindeer lichen, are a crucial food source for caribou and elk in winter, some of which (depending on the species) may only be found in mature or old growth forests. When old growth forests are logged, fast-growing trees are replanted, which do not supply the lichen that these ungulates need. Some species of shrub lichens include wolf lichen, antlered perfume, sugared beard, and cottontail coral.
Leaf lichens are commonly found in parks, plastered on branches, and sneaking around tree bark. They have a more rounded leaf as opposed to shrub lichens. Some species, like monks-hood lichen, are intricately designed, and some are more simple leaves like dog pelt, freckle pelt, and green paw lichens.
Beard lichens, also called hair lichens, are long strands of fibrous material that grow commonly in higher elevation forests. The cord-like strings feel tough when dry, but after a rain, the lichen turns soft and fine.
Club lichens are tiny forests of lollipop-like stubble that grow on tree bark. The photo above is a particular type of club lichen, called green stubble. These lichens take a patient, observant eye to find – I chanced upon this lichen while holding my cat up to the tamarack tree featured in the photo above (so she could sharpen her claws on the bark).
Dust or crust lichens often grow on rocks or bark. They are often scaly in appearance and bumpy in texture.
Lichens are fascinating, alien, and beautiful beings that provide oxygen, food for animals and people, and a colourful bloom to the forest. Here are some more lichens that I honour in my photos:
Stunning photos Hazel!
Did you know that there was talk that we could use lichen to help terraform new worlds?
Thank you, Nancy! I haven’t heard of that, though I’m not surprised. Lichen is such a wondrous being – there’s likely little it can’t do!
According to “Entangled Life” (Sheldrake 2020), lichens encrust 8% of the Earth’s surface, an area larger than that covered by tropical rainforests. Lichens mine minerals from the rocks and through their life and death cycles give rise to the first soil in a new ecosystem. “A portion of the minerals in your body is likely to have passed through a lichen at some point.” Again I refer you to the website “Ways of Enlichenment” (waysofenlichenment.net).
Lichen were the gateway organism to the idea of “symbiosis”, a notion countering “the survival of the fittest”. Thus evolution was no longer thought of solely in terms of competition and conflict; lichens are examples of “inter-kingdom collaboration” (Sheldrake 2020).
Lichen is such an interconnected being – it must coexist with its surroundings (trees, mosses, plants) to survive. It is hard to get away from the idea that everything in nature is at war with each other, a constant competition to be the biggest or best, but when you witness an organism so fitted to its environment and so linked to everything around it, that is when progress is made from “survival of the fittest” to coexistence.