Think of lichen as nature’s ultimate buddy system: the fungus builds the “house” — it provides the structure, holds moisture ...

Lichens on stone, those "still explosions" as the great American poet Elizabeth Bishop named them, remain unseen to most, ...

Lichen is a combination of algae and fungus that lives on any number of solid, undisturbed surfaces, including trees and rocks ... and it can also grow on barks of trees without disturbing ...

A sprinkling of lichens grow on any remaining exposed rocks. Mosses get their nutrients from the rocks themselves and, like other plants, depend on sunlight and photosynthesis to create their food.

“Well, what about the rare lichens growing on them ... has proved as difficult as trying to distinguish stone from rock. A symbiotic association between a fungus (a mycobiont) and a ...