Lichens
These strange plants, that are an association of fungi with algae and/or cyanobacteria that make sugars for them, have always fascinated me. Different lichens can show varying amounts of sensitivity to different air pollutants, and I often set my field trip students the task of working out the pollution in an area using lichens as bio-indicators.
But they are also works of art in their own right - from dark flat patches of colour like spilled paint to branched and tufted forms.
Crusted,
tufted and
foliose lichens
©Ann Pocklington annpock@btinternet.com
DRIVEN TO STITCH
DRIVEN TO STITCH
