Plant Spotlight: Bushy Beard Lichen
Take a walk in any wooded conservation land in Falmouth and you'll find Bushy Beard Lichen (Usnea strigosa).
Lichens are a symbiotic organizism consistng of a fungus and an algae or cyanobacteria. The fungus provides the structure and the algea provides the food through photosynthesis.
Bushy beard lichens grow flat cup-like structures called apothecium, which play a role in its spore-based reproduction.
Lichens do not harm the trees they grow on.
Bushy Beard Lichen thrives in sunlight areas, such as this relatively exposed vernal pool.