A winter landscape allows your eyes to wander through the forest to see the lay of the land. Noticing details and features of the mountain — structure, form and colors of tree bark and branches, boulders and gravel , fallen leaves and limbs — and among those earthy tones of browns and grays, look more intensely to find a world of lichens. Lichens are interesting and beautiful, and when you train your eyes to search for them, you’ll see so many varieties. They are everywhere!
Lichen, a composite organism — algae, fungus and cyanobacteria living in a symbiotic mutual relationship — the fungus provides physical structure and water, while the algae and cyanobacteria (using photosynthesis) produce food. With over 1000 lichen species in Alabama, it can be difficult to identify and narrow down to the genus and species, but there are other fun ways to observe lichen.
Look for the three basic forms of lichen:
- Foliose: leaf-like and has 2 sides
- Fruticose: shrubby and branch-like
- Crustose: flat and crusty
Use a magnifying glass or hand lens and get in the loupe (ha!) with lichens: a closeup look at lichen reveals miniature landscapes of color, structure, and form.
Take pictures and add your observations to iNaturalist for crowd-sourced identification. Join our iNaturalist project, Fungi of Ruffner Mountain, and when you upload an observation, it will automatically be added to the project. Explore and learn!
