#lichen When we talk about lichens, many people tend to think about mosses, it's one of the most common mistakes. And this is not the case, this meaning has long been corrected because it is incorrect.
Lichens are not mosses nor are they plants. What exactly are they? Are there different types?
Although initially, the different plants that grew on the bark of some trees were called lichens, later the word was used as an alternative of equal meaning to moss, today, its study is much more developed and its meaning is different. In fact, lichen is called the symbiotic fusion of a fungus with an organism capable of performing photosynthesis, whether it is a cyanobacteria or an alga. Because of this peculiar nature, which gives to the union of the two organisms characteristics that they do not have separately, they are also commonly called lichenized fungi. Its two components are called mycobiont or mico symbiote (this being the fungal part) and photobiont (the part capable of performing photosynthesis)

7 types of lichen are distinguished if we look at their way of adhering to the substrate and their morphology.

Foliaceous: these are those that develop on the surface of the substrate, spreading through it and fixing themselves thanks to their ricins or at a single point. Some examples are Xanthoria, Physcia or Umbillicaria.
Fruticulous: these lichens tend to take the form of shrubs of small size, and are fixed to the substrate at a point or surface of reduced attachment. They are fruticulous lichens Usnea, Alectoria and Ramalina.
Scaly: their edge is not glued to the substrate, and they take the form of a tapestry of scales very close to each other. An example of this is the Psora.
Filamentous: some of these are very similar to fruitful ones. They form a network of threads or filaments, of very thin thickness and usually entangled. Cystocoleus is one of them.
Gelatinous: when they have enough moisture, their texture becomes fleshy and supple, soft. In addition, in this state of abundance of water they can become translucent.
Crustaceans: they are the most numerous of the lichens known. As the name suggests, they adhere very strongly to the substrate in which they develop, which is usually in rocks, although sometimes they also adhere to dead wood, leaves or logs, as well as to soil or humus.
Compounds: they have two thalli, a main one that is almost always scaly or crustacean and the other secondary, which is fruticulous.