01/04/2024
I lichen you very moss!
💚 Lichen or Moss? The species pictured above is commonly called wolf lichen (letharia vulpina). Lichens are a complex life form. It's a symbiotic partnership of two separate organisms, a fungus and an alga.
🟢The Latin name 'vulpine' means fox like. However, this lichen is toxic to mammals and has been used historically as a poison for wolves and foxes. In earlier times ranchers would stuff animal carcasses with wolf lichen in hopes that canines (that may otherwise predate their cattle or sheep) would dine on the poisonous carrion trap instead. This may be how the wolf lichen received it's scientific name.
💚 Letharia vulpina’s color is not from bright chlorophyll, but rather a bitter, poisonous ingredient: vulpinic acid. Today, lab studies show that a light dusting of it on garden plants, in quantities much less than those existing in the lichen itself, will significantly reduce predation from slugs and snails.
🟢 Due to it's eye-catching, almost florescent color, wolf lichen has been used traditionally by many Native American groups as a pigment source for dyes and paints.
💚 Another way lichens directly benefit humans is through their ability to absorb everything in their atmosphere, especially pollutants. Lichens can provide us with valuable information about the environment around us. Any heavy metals or carbon or sulfur or other pollutants in the atmosphere are absorbed into the lichen thallus. Scientists can extract these toxins and determine the levels that are present in our atmosphere. This information can help us make adjustments for cleaner air.
🟢 Because lichens enable algae to live all over the world in many different climates, they also provide a means to convert carbon dioxide in the atmosphere through photosynthesis into oxygen, which we all need!
I'm lichen that a lot !
📸 Forest Service
