Cladonia Lichen sp.

A closer look at the tiny world of Cladonia lichen. These little stalks were maybe half an inch in height : ) No idea how many different species of Cladonia grow in Alberta, but I'm not going to even try to give an ID to the one shown in this image. We found these on one of our stops along Highway 40, in Kananaskis. There were lots of very tiny mushrooms nearby, growing on the droppings/scat of some large animal.

What is a Lichen? "Lichens are amazing living entities, in that they are not a single organism like plants, animals or fungi. Instead every single lichen is the result of two or more separate organisms living permanently together. All lichens are made up of a fungal partner and either/or an algal partner or a cyanobacterium partner, or both.

Lichens first appeared about 400 million years ago so they have been around for a long time. Some individual species such as Hypogymnia physodes have been around for at least 25 million years and maybe for as long as 70 million years. Obviously the lichen symbiosis is a successful strategy.... For many ecologists lichens are an accurate monitor of quality of the air in any given place.... Lichens are useful as food, medicine, for making dyes, in perfume manufacture, as decorations and in science." From www.earthlife.net/lichens/intro.html