![]() The first is lichen is a symbiotic relationship of two life forms, fungi and algae, with the fungus providing the form and the algae the operating system inside. There are three surprising things about lichen. Evans - has no official common name but it is called Powder Puff Lichen. ![]() evansii - named after North Carolina botanist Alexander W. The two common “reindeer mosses” found here in central Florida are the Cladonia evansii and Cladonia subtenuis, with the subtenuis - which means thinner - being less compact than Cladonia evansii. You could actually leave foot prints in the lichen like those left in snow… and unknowingly crushing centuries of growth at the same time. rangiferina but running through brittle beds of red-topped Cladonia cristatella. I can remember as a boy, living on the northern end of those mountains in Maine, not only playing with C. rangiferina, however, stops its southward migration in the United States with the end of the Appalachian Trail. That’s rather clever since reindeer eat a lot of it and its branching resembles deer antlers. One of the most widespread and commonly eaten lichen, by beast and brute alike, is a northern version of what you see above, Cladonia rangiferina, (ran-jiff-er-EYE-nah or ran-ghif-er-EE-nah) also known as Cladina rangiferina - both Latin for many branching reindeer like. It probably will not kill you but you will wish it had. Never eat unprepared and raw lichen unless your life truly depends upon it. That should motivate you to prepare it correctly. What the lichen all share is acid and as such require proper preparation if they are to be eaten because unprepared and uncooked they will painfully attack your digestive track. Most lichen are likable, but not exactly consumer friendly.
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