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Lichens — Part 1

If a small plant, rootless, of almost any colour except bright green, grows as a dainty mat--a thallus--flat (Colour Plate V) or ruffled (Plate II) on its support, one may suspect that it is a lichen. If in addition to this habit of growth, it bears its fruits in flattened coloured disks (Colour Plate VII) one may know it is a lichen, also if the plants branch like corals (Colour Plate XI), or hang in fringes (Colour Plate I) from the trees, and are without leaves, one may suspect that they are lichens and may be pretty sure of it if the fruits are little coloured disks or cushions on the tips of the branches. The "Florida Moss," which grows in long gray fringes from the trees in the South, is neither a lichen nor a moss, but is a true flowering plant with stamens and pistils, the old seed capsules are often found still clinging to this moss-appearing plant, in the season when it is not in flower. It was probably to this plant Gannet referred when he wrote:

"A cloister dim, where the gray moss waves,

And the live-oaks lock their arms at will."