What are Lichens?
Part of being a naturalist is learning to identify and name organisms in the surrounding environment, and the first step to identification is usually being able to classify an organism as a plant, animal, or fungi. But what do we do when the classification isn't immediately clear? Lichens are a strange group of organisms that don't immediately fall into any of the easily-identifiable categories we're familiar with. That's because they're actually a combination of two organisms from different groups. The structure of a lichen comes from the mycelia (threadlike structures) of fungi, which allows for the wide variety of lichen shapes you can find. While most of us might picture small bits of greenish crust on tree trunks or rocks when we hear the word "lichen" (see below), lichens can also appear powdery, gelatinous (above), leafy, stringy, or even branching. What's most interesting is that the fungi that form half of the lichen partnership are oblig...