Squamulose and Foliose

Nature reclaiming,
Taking back what it is owed.
Return to the earth.


Today's haiku is brought to you by my son Greg - I think it's rather good.

I learned three new things today:
Lichen is actually two organisms living together symbiotically. They are a fungus and an algae.

"The fungal partner provides a cosy, sheltered environment for the alga, protecting it to some extent from the elements and providing mineral nutrients. The actual benefits to the alga or cyanobacterium are debatable but the obvious advantage for the fungus is the in-house food factory provided by the photobiont. The photobiont partner is more than simply an imprisoned food-slave, however. It is such a closely evolved alliance that the fungus is dependant on the presence of the photobiont for its shape and structure. If the fungal partner is isolated and grown on an agar plate it forms a shapeless, infertile blob."

There's a lesson in that for us all - we need others if we are not to have a blob like existance.....

The other things I learned were two words which are used to describe types of lichen:
Foliose is obviously "leaf like", but Squamulose? Apparently it means "scale like". What a brilliant word!