A word about lichen

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:03 am

As a lad, I'd never
heard of lichen,
but would have likely
thought it icky if I had.
As a teen, lichen
was something I mainly
read about, something
other people got to see.
And once, Jimmy Collins
showed me some lichen
his dad kept in a drawer
in the garage.

These days, I can get lichen
any time I want,
but my fascination with lichen
waned once I understood
it was about more
than just biology.

gonzo914 · Post by **gonzo914** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:09 am

FJohnSharp wrote:As a lad, I'd never
heard of lichen,
but would have likely
thought it icky if I had.
As a teen, lichen
was something I mainly
read about, something
other people got to see.
And once, Jimmy Collins
showed me some lichen
his dad kept in a drawer
in the garage.

These days, I can get lichen
any time I want,
but my fascination with lichen
waned once I discovered
it was about more
than just biology.

If you had looked on top of the refrigerator, you probably would have found some lichen there. That's where my father kept his lichen.

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:01 am

That's .... that's beautiful.
I understand the Internet is largely funded by lichen.
That's symbiosis for you....

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:13 am

I can
Say nothing about
Lichen.
But I hear it's true
That it grows on you.

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:56 am

I think there's more than enough evidence here that this topic should have been started in the PoliCon forum. We're talking about a deeply-rooted societal problem. I have nothing against fungi or algae, but I'm not sure we need to encourage such dependence in any members of our society, whether the situation is stable or not. We need to stress the uniqueness and value of the individual!

Lichen is the result of the symbiotic association of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner (called a photobiont) that can produce food for the association.

... there is some controversy as to whether the lichen symbiosis should be considered mutualistic or parasitic. Nonetheless, the lichen is typically a highly stable association which probably extends the ecological range of both partners.

The body (thallus) of most lichens is quite different from that of either the fungus or alga growing separately, and may strikingly resemble simple plants in form and growth (Sanders 2001).

This is lichen.
It is natural to find it interesting but addiction is a serious possibility for some individuals.

Ernst Haeckel
1904

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 10:03 am

Mods! Mods! Cynth is posting lichen!

gonzo914 · Post by **gonzo914** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 10:10 am

You simply would not believe what you get when you google "Lichen" images. It is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 10:16 am

avanutria wrote:

Mods! Mods! Cynth is posting lichen!

Uh oh. Busted

!

gonzo914 wrote:You simply would not believe what you get when you google "Lichen" images. It is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.

But even worse, it comes up in searches that have nothing at all to do with lichen. I was once searching for the exact dimensions of a certain type of bowling pin and you would not believe the lichen url's that came up. I could never figure that out.

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 10:20 am

I think it's perfectly alright to have a certain curiosity about lichen. I think most of us have seen the odd lichen picture or two or even a movie. It's when curiosity turns into obsession and you can't stop seeking out more and more lichen that you know you've got an unhealthy addiction.

djm · Post by **djm** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:09 am

Yeah, sure, go ahead and pick on the lichen lovers, now. They're a minority. They're easily suppressed. Why not use them to flex your political muscles a bit ... just to remind the locals what you're capable of.

But have any of you actually tried it? Have you gone out into the heart of nature to collect your own from the rocks and stones? Have you lovingly cured it for weeks in a secret room out of the eyes of the papal authorities? Have you ever used lichen to compare something favourably with?

All I know is, I've tried lichen, and I'm lichen it a lot.

djm

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:26 am

I'm nearing the end of "*A Brief History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson, a lay-person science book. His paragraphs about lichens are fascinating, to me, at least. Some live, apparently, forever, by living just barely, existing off of minerals set loose by rock-dissolving fungi. For one to reach the size of a plate takes several hundred thousand years, evidently. So scraping a lichen off of something is destroying something ancient, apparently....

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:11 pm

djm wrote:Have you lovingly cured it for weeks in a secret room out of the eyes of the papal authorities?

I don't think lichen grows on eyes...

djm · Post by **djm** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:31 pm

'Course it does, else you've never seen it, and if you've never seen it, how can you use it to compare favourably with?

djm

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:37 pm

My wife and I agreed before we were married that we were both free to pursue lichen outside the home. It's really strengthened our own lichen lives.

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:37 pm

I can't really define lichen, but I know it when I see it.

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