How to Tell a Lichen From a Moss?

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How can you tell a lichen from a moss? Hey, great question. Lichens are going to be a phallus, right? Sometimes powdery, sometimes kind of leathery, but they're not going to have a stem that leaves on it. Whereas mosses do. And lichens, which by the way are also poikalahydric have this amazing water stress tolerance. They tend toward the spectrum of gray and blue, and sometimes have olive green as well as the gorgeous orange and yellow ones.

An instant classic. You’ll listen on repeat as world-renowned author, botanist, Indigenous ecology professor and bryologist Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer talks about her passion for moss. Cozy up for the most beautifully doled-out information about hidden worlds, overlooked mysteries, botanical drama, forests in miniature, Native peoples’ uses for moss and philosophies about science and ecology. Dr. Kimmerer, author of “Gathering Moss” and “Braiding Sweetgrass,” will change the way you see mosses forever, will inspire you to wear a loupe on a rope, and will soothe your soul with her beautiful voice and prose. Also bathmats, lawns and smoothies made of moss? We discuss.

Follow Dr. Kimmerer at facebook.com/braidingsweetgrass

Look for her books at independent bookstores or wherever books are sold (including Amazon): “Braiding Sweetgrass” and “Gathering Moss”

Donations went to the ESF’s Center for Native Peoples and the Environment and American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES)

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Sound editing by Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media & Steven Ray Morris

Theme song by Nick Thorburn