Having received almost four inches of rain during this past
September, at least the surface of the earth and its plants and
animals are rejoicing during this time of great human suffering.
Last winter I taught an eight-week course for the
Clearing-In-Winter at Ellison Bay called "Great American
Nature Writers." The first writer, whose life and writings
we studied and discussed, was Henry David Thoreau. One of the
most memorable phrases he wrote, almost as though he were
shouting to the world, urging every human being to follow, was,
"Simplify, simplify, simplify!"
Thoreau spent much of his time hiking in the great outdoors,
carefully observing, recording, sketching and then putting into
words during the nighttime hours what he had experienced during
the day and how it affected his life. One of his sentences fits
the month of October to perfection: "This is a lichen
day."
When one realizes that there exist more than 3600 species of
lichens (LY-kens) in the U.S. and Canada you begin to realize how
common they are, even though many people could care less that a
single lichen exists. A lichen is in many respects an unusual
plant, not a single organism the way most other living things
are, but rather a successful alliance between a fungus (plural is
fungi -"FUN-ji") and an alga (plural is algae -
"Al-gee").
Most of the lichen is made up of fungal filaments, but living
in with the filaments are algal cells, usually from a green alga
or a cyanobacterium. The beautiful part of this very intimate
relationship is that each is doing what it does best, and
thriving as one organism as a result of a natural cooperation. I
can imagine Thoreau saying, "Pay attention you people!"
Lichens in a sense are like miniature sponges that take up
everything that comes their way, including sunlight, carbon
dioxide, dust-like particles of nourishing food, moisture, air
pollution and atomic fallout. Unfortunately many species of
lichens succumb to air pollution. As an example, recent studies
have found that 80% of the original lichen species were found to
have disappeared from the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
Some of the most recent research, especially in the Pacific
Northwest, concludes that ancient forests and other undisturbed
ecosystems are vanishing from the world at a rapid pace, and with
them the biological diversity that they sustain, including
hundreds of species of lichens.
An alarming study has found that microbiotic crusts,
consisting of tangles of miniature lichens, mosses and
cyanobacteria, provide the major share of fixed nitrogen in the
vast desert ecosystems of our Southwest. As increasing amounts
of air pollution flood the deserts and canyonlands, much
resulting from coal-fired electric generating plants for example,
these vital microbiotic crusts are being killed and with it the
plants and animals that live there.
So many wild animals depend a great deal upon some of the
lichens. For example, 90% of the winter diet of caribou in the
Far North is made up primarily of Cladina stellaris
(cla-DYE-na stel-LAIR-ris). Several closely related species
of these lichens from northeastern Wisconsin are commonly
referred to as reindeer moss, even though they technically are
lichens.
Flying squirrels in the Pacific Northwest are known to make
their fluffy, and edible, nests from one of the species of
Bryoria lichen, and the mountain goats of Alaska eat
Lobaria linita (lo-BARE-e-a lin-EYE-ta) among other
species. One of the species of Lobaria lichen from our
region is pulmonia (pul-MOE-nee-a) a most fascinating
plant. The Gitksan Indians of British Columbia associated this
lichen with frogs and used it in a spring bathing ritual to bring
about health and long life.
Parmelia sulcata (par-ME-lee-a sul-CAY-ta) turns out
to be one of the most widespread lichens in North America. In
fact every ruby-throated hummingbird nest in the nest collection
at the Milwaukee Public Museum that was examined by Wisconsin’s
Dr. John Thompson, eminent lichenologist, was found to contain
these lichens skillfully attached to the outside of the nests for
various and wonderful reasons unknown to humans – perhaps used as
camouflage.
More than 50 species of birds in North America are known to
use lichens in their nest-building and at least a couple of
species, including the spruce grouse and wild turkey, are
reported to eat lichens.
Long, drooping, Alectoria lichens, called "witch’s
hair" by the locals, drop to the ground during high wind
storms in the Pacific Northwest and become food for black-tailed
deer when much of their other forage is buried beneath deep snow.
Surprisingly, very few lichens are fit for human consumption.
One of the few, Iceland moss lichen, Cetraria islandica,
(se-TRAIR-e-a is-LAN-di-ca) is still sold in Iceland today to be
used as a soup thickener. The rare related species, also
referred to as the Iceland moss lichen, found in only a few areas
of the state including Door County, is Cetraria ericetorum
(eh-riss-e-TORE-um).
A ten-power hand lens will greatly enhance your enjoyment of
the lichens, and autumn is the perfect time to study them. I
dearly hope that you will return home one of these cool moist
days from a simple, quiet, meandering and exhilarating hike into
the woods and exclaim, "This is a lichen day!"
The fine-leaved lichen is Evernea Mesomorpha,
related to Europe's oak moss lichen that is used widely in the perfume industry.
This column appeared in the Door County Advocate
on 10/05/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Roy Lukes. All rights reserved.
