Abstract
LICHENS form a quite exceptional group of plants with many peculiar features, the chief among which is the fact that they are compound organisms, a lichen consisting of a fungus individual and numerous alga individuals—the fungus with its branched and interlacing threads has grown around the alga cells and enclosed them in a nest. The result is that the lichen can grow in places which would be quite unsuitable for the independent existence of either the fungus or the alga of which it is composed. Algæ grow in water or in moist places, while most fungi are extremely sensitive to cold and drought, but lichens can thrive in the bleakest positions and in the most severe climates, as on bare mountain rocks and in the farthest circumpolar regions reached by explorers—provided that the land surface is not covered by perpetual snow. In alpine and arctic regions, lichens do important pioneer work, helping to break up the hardest rock surfaces and prepare soil on which other plants can grow; while on steeply inclined and bare rock, lichens, along with minute algsgj are in general the first colonists.
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C., F. Antarctic Lichens 1 . Nature 91, 541–542 (1913). https://doi.org/10.1038/091541b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/091541b0