Lichen (pronounced “liken”) is a flowerless plant that grows in the northern areas of Alaska and some other parts of the world’s cold spots. Though it may appear to be dead, it contains starch and serves as a valuable food for man as well as animals. One kind is called reindeer grass as in many places it is the only food available for reindeer during freezing weather. There is another kind, called Iceland moss, that people in Iceland make bread out of. Lichen often covers acres of marshy ground, called tundra. It also grows on trunks and limbs of trees, some of it standing very tall and colorful. In other places it is a covering for huge rocks, where it sometimes displays bright coloring.
The Creator has designed lichen for purposes other than food too. Though it does not require soil to grow, over long periods of time it will turn parts of the rocks it covers into soil. Here’s how that is done. The thin but tough roots growing from it penetrate tiny cracks in the rock and swell with water from rain or dew. The acid the roots produce helps to break off tiny particles of the rock. This starts the soil-making process. Dust from the surface of the rock, along with decayed lichen, mixes with the tiny rock particles. This combination makes new soil that will sooner or later wash out in a rainstorm and drop over the side of the rock onto soil below. This is such a tiny amount that it may hardly seem important. However, when a rock is completely covered with lichen, over centuries of time it helps to not only add to the soil but to enrich it as well.
Most of the year there is no rainfall to nourish other kinds of plants in those areas, but the lichen gets along very well without it. It gets enough moisture from the air itself and the dew clinging to the plant which drips down to its roots.
Once established, a lichen plant continues its slow growth, regardless of the weather or apparent lack of nourishment. Scientists inform us that this amazing plant may live a thousand years or more, growing steadily even where winters are fierce. At times it is the only food available for some of the animals living there or migrating through.
The earth certainly is filled with the wonders of God’s creation, whether we look at mountains, deserts, tundra, great forests, or rivers, lakes or oceans. As you look at any of these or other marvels, remember that they didn’t just come by chance. All have been put in their places and preserved there by the Lord God Himself.
ML-05/02/1993