Postcard from British Columbia

Photo Title – Pollock on a Rock by J.R. Corkrum

LICHEN

We lichen are small

We lichen are tiny

Sometimes we look dusty

Sometimes we are shiny

We come in many colors

red, black and tangerine

yellow, brown and silver

but most of us are green.

We grow where it is wet

and  where it is dry as a bone

near the equator

and in the arctic zone.

We are found on boulders

We are found on stumps

Sometimes alone

Sometimes in clumps

We can drape down

We can grow up

We can be flat, or

Shaped like a cup

We grow on the soil

or up high in a tree

out in the desert

or on rocks by the sea.

Hummingbirds use us

when building their nests.

We are tasty to reindeer

who like us the best.

We lichen are all over,

and are magical to see,

but since we grow so slowly

please just let us be.

Author Unknown