Distinctly Montana Magazine

60 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G 2 0 2 6 which also protects against UV and may have some antioxidant properties that protect the lichen against extreme changes in temperature. In fact, they work so well together that some scientists think that, if the nutrients are ample enough and in the absence of the few factors that can actually kill them, lichen is functionally immortal and does not grow old. This astonishing quality has prompted Pu- litzer Prize-winning poet Forrest Gander to think dif- ferently about this wonderful communion between two life forms. "The thought of two things that come together and alter each other collaboratively—two things becoming one thing that does not age—roused me toward considering lichen a kind of model and metaphor for the intricacies of intimacy," he wrote. He has written volumes, incidentally, about the world of lichen and fungus. Nor is Gander the only poet on which lichen grows, at least as a subject. The poet Lew Welch, in a poem entitled "Springtime in the Rockies, Lichen," writes, Let it all die. The hushed globe will wait and wait for what is now so small and slow to open it again. As now, indeed, it opens it again, this scentless velvet, crumbler-of-the-rocks, this Lichen! ACAROSPORA STRIGATA (HOARY COBBLESTONE LICHEN) Though the underlying lichen is brown, it often appears white or pale gray due to a dusty coating called pruina. Part of the "cobblestone lichen" group, it exhibits a cracked, pavement-like appearance with deep fissures cleaving the cortex. VULPICIDA TILESII (ARCTIC SUNSHINE LICHEN) Thriving in extreme environments from Alaska to alpine zones, this species earns its nicknames "arctic sunshine lichen" and "goldtwist." What was once thought to be three separate species—V. juniperinus, V. tilesii, and V. tubulosus—genetic studies revealed to be one highly variable species.

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