Lichen

Lichens occur in some of the most extreme environments on Earth: arctic tundra, hot deserts, rocky coasts, toxic slag heaps - and the leafy Oxfordshire village of Woodstock.

Northern peoples in North America and Siberia traditionally eat the partially digested reindeer lichen after they remove it from the rumen of dead animals.

I saw no evidence of such activity in Hensington Road cemetery today, but I did think the pattern on the gravestones was rather splendid.