You guys … No. If the only thing I ever teach you is that lichens, moss, and algae are not hurting trees, then this entire endeavor will have been worth it. Who out there is looking at a fucking tree, seeing something growing on it, and stewing over it? I am imagining some man noticing a tree trunk for the first time in his godforsaken life and thinking “hmmm … That can’t be right.” Like not looking at a single other tree trunk, just worriedly turning it over in his head. Lying in bed, trying to fall asleep, can’t stop thinking about that weird fuzzy stuff they saw on a tree earlier. Then he googles and sees this and can finally relax. The world is right again. Maybe next time he is out he looks at another tree and *gasp* there it is again! And suddenly it’s everywhere: moss in the cracks of the sidewalk, lichen on the telephone poles, a slime of green algae on the subway wall. Suddenly the world is alive, and he no longer has to worry.
They are just hanging out :)
Here’s a a little sapling I photographed with the thickest plushest moss coat. it’s his puffy winter jacket
He moss too thick for he gotdam he
He moss to big for he gotdam he
I just spend the night at the botany open house showing people the herbarium, and how mosses open up their leaves when you put a drop of water on them. I needed to make a little guy, for science.
OHHHHH MY GOD 💚💚💚
Just a reminder that there are whole sections of the world (including the US) where it is too dry for any of these and the only time you’d have seen them is in fantasy art or science class books. Most moss you can find in the US southwest is at Michaels.
My friend, that’s just not true. And that’s kinda the point that I am getting at with this post. It is so easy to miss the lichens (and moss) around us simply because 1) we don’t know what we’re looking at, and 2) they are so common that they sorta just fade into the background. Now certainly if you go outside looking for fluffy green stuff you won’t see tons of that, but there are tons of lichens and mosses adapted to hot dry environments–hell lichens tend to dominate compared to plants in those extreme environments! May I direct your attention to the not 1, not 2, but 3 volumes of The Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region?
I highly recommend going on a lichen hunt–getting up close and personal with your local rocks, trees, bushes, walls, cacti, what have you–and familiarizing yourself with your tiny symbiotic neighbors. I can almost guarantee that you will be amazed at what you find!
Also fun fact: the moss they sell at craft stores is often spray painted lichen. It desiccates and holds its shape better long-term than moss.
