Lichens are symbiotic composites of fungus and alga forming one new organism

Evidence

The forest the lichens inhabit is a richly textured plantscape, but they are not plants. They blur the definition of what it means to be an individual, as a lichen is not one being, but two: a fungus and an alga. These partners are as different as could be and yet are joined in a symbiosis so close that their union becomes a wholly new organism. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 987

Categorization

• XREF: The lichen’s two-in-one symbiosis parallels the book’s central braiding of Indigenous and Western knowledge into a stronger whole. — connects to: Lichen body layers are architecturally arranged so each partner protects the other — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 993; Lichens colonize bare glacial rock over centuries where no soil can accumulate — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 984; An old-growth forest’s apparent chaos conceals a web of fungal and water interconnections — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 1018
• DEFINE: Defines lichen as composite organism, blurring individuality — the load-bearing biological concept here.

Broader Connections

• Lichen body layers are architecturally arranged so each partner protects the other #expands (0.85) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 993