Plants of the Gila Wilderness-- Lichens

Lichens represent a new direction and so these ID's must be taken as tentative. We'll get better at Lichens as we gain experience.

Lichens are in fact at least two separate organisms growing together as one. One is a fungus, known as the mycobiont. The other is either a population of an alga or a cyanobacterium, known as the photobiont. Sometimes there is also a third organism, a yeast. There are three different kinds of lichens, distinguished by growth pattern. Crustose lichens are densely adherent to the substrate and generally need to be pried off with a knife. Foliose lichens have distinct upper and lower surfaces and can be peeled from the substrate usually. Fructicose lichens have large areas that grow away from the substrate by hanging or appearing bushlike.