Title: Hiding in the Shadows

Main Text
Pretty flowers, big plants, and green vegetation attract our attention. Lichens rarely have these showy characteristics; therefore, they often go unnoticed. Seemingly insignificant, these plants have great diversity in their forms, life cycles, and preferences for habitat and growing surfaces.

Lichens are organisms consisting of a mutual relationship between a fungus and either algae or cyanobacteria.

With the absence of flowers, lichens reproduce through the dispersal of microscopic pores, small cells that are capable of germinating on their own.

The presence and growth of many of our native lichens in this forest are indications of a healthy environment, since they are sensitive to air pollution. Lichens also provide shelter, nesting material, and food for animals, especially during winter.

Secondary Text
How many varieties of lichens can you find growing on these trees?

Exhibit Panel Description
A black and white photo of a forest serves as the background of the exhibit panel with the main text in a column on the left half of the panel. Filling the right half of the panel is a close-up view of a tree trunk covered in a patchwork of different lichens, some scaly, some leafy, some with long strands, all in a variety of green, white and brown-black colors. In the lower left corner of the panel is the secondary text set into a small grey oval. Above the text is a small graphic of a historic gas lantern lit with a soft yellow light.

Visit This Exhibit Panel
This exhibit panel is located in Longmire along the Trail of the Shadows, a short trail that starts across the street from the National Park Inn. Longmire is open year-round.