RE: What's that green stuff everywhere? It's Lichen!
Gorgeous pictures! Fascinating how some of these specimens are reminiscent of corals and some aquatic plants. I didn't know these types of vegetal were lichen. I am more familiar with the common moss, did you know it contains small amounts of iodine and can be used to filter water as a last resort (though, don't try it if you are not in a survival situation, it is not proven to be 100% effective in all situations). Do you know if some of the specimens you photographed also have some of these practical properties? Also, I'm working on compiling a herbarium on steemit, if you would like to join the effort and share some of your pictures and knowledge, simply use the "herbarium" tag. I hope to see you there! Thanks for the beautiful pictures, have a nice day!
Thank you! I don't think those can filter water. They are pretty dry and stuck to the surface. Mosses are more "fluffy" and can hold a lot of water. I think I saw somewhere that if extreme situations you can squeeze the water our of a moss and drink it. Probably there is lots of tiny organisms in that water - but you will survive ;)
Not sure about the properties of those and if they can be used in a medical way... I simply love how they look :)
Thanks for your reply, you are right about the mosses. I also enjoy how Lichen looks like. I did a little research to get an idea of what one could do with Lichen and check this out: with specific types you can make medicine, food and dyes. I also had an interesting read on the US National Library of Medicine's website about the history of Lichen usage by humans, common practices and known benefits. Here's the link to that article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5320728/
This is pretty awesome! Everything in nature has it's purpose, but just don't know about it..
I just remembered that I think saw some program saying that reindeer and other animals eat lichens (and moss) in winter when other food is hard to find under the snow.
Do you know @haphazard-hstead here on Steemit? She knows A LOT about wild plants and weeds.
Yes, it's true! Lichen is used as a food source when plants are scarce because of the snow. It also grows a lot in the Tundra and is an essential part of animals survival!