Lichen
WordNet
noun
(1) Any thallophytic plant of the division Lichenes; occur as crusty patches or bushy growths on tree trunks or rocks or bare ground etc.
(2) Any of several eruptive skin diseases characterized by hard thick lesions grouped together and resembling lichens growing on rocks
WiktionaryText
Noun
- Any of many symbiotic organisms, being associations of fungi and algae; often found as white or yellow patches on old walls, etc.
Quotations
- 1894 — Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Lukannon
- The Beaches of Lukannon–the winter wheat so tall–
The dripping, crinkled lichens, and the sea-fog drenching all!
- The Beaches of Lukannon–the winter wheat so tall–
- 1895 — H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, ch XI
- It was the same rich green that one sees on forest moss or on the lichen in caves: plants which like these grow in a perpetual twilight.
- 1915 — John Muir, Travels in Alaska, ch V
- The nibble marks of the stone adze were still visible, though crusted over with scale lichens in most places.
Related terms
- lichened
- fungus
- Iceland moss
- moss
- reindeer moss
- algae
Etymology
Borrowed from , from .