How lichens are bringing stone to life and reconnecting us with the natural world
Lichens on stone, those "still explosions" as the great American poet Elizabeth Bishop named them, remain unseen to most, which is remarkable when you consider how commonplace they are. It seems these ecologically and culturally significant whatever-they-are unfairly fall victim to something akin to plant blindness, a known phenomenon and the tendency of people to overlook plants, which many of us—when we first encounter lichens—identify them as, even though that's not what they are at all.
Lichens on stone, those "still explosions" as the great American poet Elizabeth Bishop named them, remain unseen to most, which is remarkable when you consider how commonplace they are. It seems these ecologically and culturally significant whatever-they-are unfairly fall victim to something akin to plant blindness, a known phenomenon and the tendency of people to overlook plants, which many of us—when we first encounter lichens—identify them as, even though that's not what they are at all.
