“Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.” – E. O. Wilson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – What better place to find a microcosm of life than in an organism such as lichens.
The wonder of something so small, yet profuse and startlingly perfect, is a joy.
In nature there is always much more than meets the eye, and an already beautiful sight is enhanced by a closer look.
Discovering the lives of lichens can become habit-forming. Once you start looking closely you begin to discover previously unseen worlds.
Much like strolling with an archaeologist whose trained eye discerns the artifact from the ordinary rock, soon you take note of the lovely lichens across the landscape.
Lichens enjoys a symbiotic relationship of algae and cyanobacteria, all set amongst fungus.
They sport profuse color variations, coming in shades including green, red, orange and yellow. Lichens can be leafy, crusty, gelatinous or even shrub-like in nature.
These unique organisms contain no roots to absorb moisture or nutrients like a typical plant does. They do, however make their own food through photosynthesis with the sun's power, and obtain moisture and minerals from the environment around them.
You can find them growing on rocks, fence posts and live trees and plants, but they are not considered to be parasitic in nature.
At least 6 percent of our planet's surface contains a form of lichen, creating a visual palate of color.
Through a process called lichenometry, these hardy growths can be used to date events, and are some of nature's longest-living organisms.
Lichens usually beat out other life forms, growing the first thing after a disturbance such as a landslide.
Lace lichen, or Ramalina menziesi, now designated by Gov. Brown as California's state lichen, is often confused with Spanish moss, or usneoides is often called beard lichen.
Lace lichen flies like delicate lacy flags on oak trees, from Alaska to Baja California. Deer love to browse on the minty green strips, and birds construct nests of lace lichen.
It's called Spanish moss but it is really neither a moss or lichen. Since it is a flowering plant, or angiospern and belongs to the bromeliad family, it grows in flowing forms from oak trees and is also enjoyed by birds as fragments for nesting material.
Lichens have enjoyed many uses throughout history: environmentalists use it as a determining factor in air pollution, it's used in medicines, dyes and fragrances.
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is an educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.