Lichens are not just fun guys.

November 23, 2006 11:22 PM

Lichen: The Fungus Meets the Alga. Beatrix Potter was an early proponent of this symbiotic life form. Once thought to be scabs of the gods, lichens can survive exposure in outer space and British churchyards. They can be antibiotic, hallucinogenic, reindeer food, and when steeped in urine make great dyes for tartans and tweeds. In the words of Henry David Thoreau, "The beauty of lichens, with their scalloped leaves, the small attractive fields, the crinkled edge! I could study a single piece for hours. How they flourish! I sympathize with their growth."
posted by bobobox (13 comments total)

I see MetaFilter's done this before in 2002
and 2003 but here are some different links.
posted by bobobox at 11:23 PM on November 23, 2006

I'm lichen this post! Nice bobobox!
posted by Pollomacho at 11:35 PM on November 23, 2006

My cology thanks you. Awesome post :-)
posted by honest knave at 11:43 PM on November 23, 2006

Oops on the Beatrix Potter link, everybody just add an "h" to to the front of what I was trying to do there.

Thanks Pollomacho and honest knave, I was inspired by the Livingstones. I enjoy sunning myself on rocks and once sang a song about being a lichen to the tune of "I'm a little teapot". I am quite conveniently forgetting the lyrics right about now.
posted by bobobox at 11:52 PM on November 23, 2006

and a mention of a mefite:
" The top of this lichen has a hard surface called a cortex"
posted by Cranberry at 12:14 AM on November 24, 2006

Can also in a pinch be eaten by people. Survival TV personality Ray Mears showed the recipe during his heavy water sabotage reenactment.
posted by Harald74 at 12:23 AM on November 24, 2006

Love that first link: "Mr. Fungus", that's priceless. And "Lichenland"... isn't that somewhere south of Munich?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:20 AM on November 24, 2006

Lichen are pretty cool - I was briefly involved with trying to clone out antibiotic-producing genes from various lichen.

Or were you talking about Lichen?
posted by porpoise at 6:51 AM on November 24, 2006

I still think plate fungus is better.
posted by snoktruix at 7:04 AM on November 24, 2006

A friend's father spent a good portion of his career developing spray-on lichen spores for beautifying highway overpasses. Don't know what became of that. It was and is deployed somewhere I think, the problem was that it only took on the north side or something.
posted by StickyCarpet at 7:39 AM on November 24, 2006 [1 favorite]

Lichen is an excellent indicator of air pollution. If you see lichen, it means your air is relatively clean.
posted by rocket88 at 8:02 AM on November 24, 2006

Can also in a pinch be eaten by people.

I believe that's a somewhat hazardous occupation.

developing spray-on lichen spores for beautifying highway overpasses

That is so bitchin'! The very idea of it, let alone that someone could make a career of it.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:42 PM on November 25, 2006

Can also in a pinch be eaten by people.

I believe that's a somewhat hazardous occupation.

Several of the heavy water sabotage guys are still alive, 60 years later. Last year my (reserve, Norwegian armed forces) hosted a speak by Poulsson. Not often I meet a legend.

The key to eating that particular kind of lichen is to get the acidity down. The saboteurs used ashes and boiled them them for a long time. Ray Mears "cheated" with baking soda.
posted by Harald74 at 7:01 AM on November 27, 2006