What do lichens look like?

Lichens can be found in a lot of various shapes. There are branched and shrubby ones like Cladonia portentosa in picture 1, or leaf-like ones, like the one in picture 2 (it is Parmotrema chinense), most members of the genus Usnea look like beards hanging down from the trees. And there are the crustose lichens, which are very closely attached to their substrate. A good example for this is Ophioparma ventosa. The colour is of course variable, too. It depends on the species. The main colours are green, grey, yellowish or brownish-green, brown and orange.

© 2002 by Richard Burghause, Germany. All rights reserved.