“Manitoba has official bird, tree and flower so why not lichen?” that title of a recent article on the website of the CBC caught my attention. A group of lichenologists in Canada are orchestrating an effort to establish a National Lichen, as well as Provincial Lichens. They do admit, however, that the effort is really to draw attention to these interesting but often overlooked and unappreciated organisms.
Most of us probably first learned about lichens in our biology classes. They are composed of an alga and a fungus that live together in a mutually beneficial relationship called mutualism. The alga provides the fungus with sugars and some other substances in exchange for some nutrients and a suitable physical environment in which to live.
Lichens are widely distributed from tundra to desert. We see them on tree branches and bark, rocks, old barn siding and old fence posts. They have been referred to as the coral reefs of the forest. They come in all sorts of colors from a wild chartreuse to rather drab colors with bright red structure resembling the berets of British soldiers. They are important colonizers of various surfaces, and begin the process of breaking down the rock to help form soil. Some algae in lichens are nitrogen fixers, taking atmospheric nitrogen and converting it to a more usable form. They are also sensitive to air pollution and climate change. Lichens have even been used to monitor air quality in the badlands, and maybe still are.
If North Dakota were to designate an official State Lichen, I would suggest Physcia dakotensis Essl. I don’t know that it has a recognized common name, but Dakota Physcia might do. At the end of a scientific name, the name or abbreviation of the person that first described the species is often given. In this case it is an Essl. for Ted Esslinger, NDSU Botany Professor Emeritus. No doubt some of you had him as a professor. Shortly after beginning his tenure at NDSU he discovered this new gray colored lichen growing on the granite and quartzite rocks in rockpiles in farmers’ fields in central and eastern North Dakota.
So take a closer look at the lichens in the future. They are more interesting and important than most of us realize. And if you take a good look at some rockpiles in the future, there is a good chance you will see some gray lichens, maybe even Physcia dakotensis.
~Chuck Lura
