Dog Lichen – lies flat on the damp mossy banks

lies flat on the damp mossy banks

Size: Width: 5–15 cm
Lifespan: 10–30 years
Diet: Symbiotic partnership. Fungus provides structure. Cyanobacterium provides food via photosynthesis and fixes atmospheric nitrogen. Requires consistent moisture.
Habitat: Damp soil, mossy banks, and rotting logs in humid, shaded forests from sea level to subalpine zone. Where soil is damp and light is low.
Range: Found throughout North and South Islands on damp soil, mossy banks, and rotting logs. Most common in wetter western regions of South Island and North Island.
Endemism: Native
Main Threats: None significant. Localised threats include forest clearance, wetland drainage, and climate change reducing forest floor moisture.
Population: Not Threatened. Common and widespread in damp, shaded forests. Particularly in wetter western regions of South Island and North Island.
Conservation Status: Not Threatened
Human Risk: harmless
Handling Note: foliose lichen, safe to handle
Conservation Note: Native lichen; not assessed by NZTCS as lichens are generally outside the scope of current threat classifications.
Te Ao Māori: No recorded Māori name distinguishes dog lichen from other lichens. Lichens were generally called pūkohu or pukorokoro. The large, floppy lichen on the forest floor would have been noticed. It looked like the skin of an animal. No distinct name survives. It was sometimes used as a dressing for wounds. Soft, flexible lobes were applied to cuts and burns.

It is not rare. Peltigera membranacea looks like a dead animal. A lichen that sprawls where it falls. Dog lichen has a large, leafy, floppy body. It is pale grey-green to brownish-green when dry. Bright green when wet. Lobes are broad and rounded. They spread across the soil like a discarded hide. The lichen of the forest floor. What makes it special is the texture. It is one of the largest and most conspicuous lichens in New Zealand. Lobes can be 10 to 20 centimetres across. They form sprawling mats on the forest floor. The surface is smooth and shiny when wet. Wrinkled and dull when dry. The underside is pale with a network of raised, branching veins. These look like leaf veins. White or pale lines stand out against the darker background. It is a cyanolichen. It contains cyanobacteria instead of green algae. The cyanobacteria give it a darker, more olive colour. They also fix nitrogen from the atmosphere. This adds nitrogen to the forest floor. A natural fertiliser. It is a partnership between a fungus and a cyanobacterium. The fungus provides structure and protection. The cyanobacterium provides food through photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation. The forest floor is damp. The dog lichen sprawls, floppy and grey-green. Lobed like a discarded hide. The underside is veined. Pale lines stand out against the dark. The lichen does not know it is a partnership. It does not know it is fixing nitrogen. It just wants to be wet. See it where soil is damp and light is low. Where forest is old and ground is soft. On mossy stream banks and rotting logs in gullies. The floppy one. The one that sprawls across the ground. Evolution rarely revises the draft.