Lichens, mosses, these "tiny miracles" of nature - how to distinguish them?

Some people with professional knowledge feel that the difference between mosses and lichens is too great, but why can't ordinary people tell them apart?

Going back to the past, national natural science education has been missing since that century. Compared with the knowledge base required for further studies, this knowledge is too unimportant and is simply not worth mentioning and is completely unnecessary.

Practitioners sometimes foolishly confuse the difference between mosses and lichens, always asking the age-old question: Aren’t they all mosses?

This is because our forestry industry focuses on trees, and we are accustomed to or even blind to non-forest materials. Imagine if one day there is really no trace of moss and lichens in our mountains and forests, and only trees are left, will we feel it at this time?

The difference between lichens and mosses is actually a visual difference. The confusion is due to ignorance about lichens.

In the wild, lichens and mosses often grow together.

If it is the rainy season, it is easy to identify. The green ones are mosses, and the non-green ones are lichens (Figure 1).

Because mosses belong to the plant kingdom, and lichens belong to the fungi kingdom. If you think about it, the difference between the two kingdoms is huge. Plants usually rely on photosynthesis to produce nutrients, and they contain chloroplasts in their bodies, so they are generally green. Fungi cannot photosynthesize, and rely on parasitism or saprophytic means to obtain nutrients, so they are usually not green, and lichens are no exception. Lichens, as a fungus, also need to rely on others (green algae or blue algae) to obtain nutrients, but they capture this other in their own body, which is exclusive to them and cannot be seen by outsiders.

In nature, lichens appear in a wide variety of colors, covering almost all color systems.

If it is the dry season, it is still easy to identify mosses and lichens in the wild. Because even in a dry environment, lichens still look beautiful, while mosses will appear to be a charcoal black color after being burned by the sun (Figure 2). Mosses will only turn green again after a rain.

Sometimes, lichens and mosses grow together completely without distinction (Figure 3). But by this time, you should be able to easily identify which is the lichen and which is the moss.