Presenting your lichens

Graphis scripta, not known for legibility. CC image by Ed Uebel.

The packet method is traditional for long-term storage of lichens. So you could hand them in in packets arrayed one behind the other (in taxonomic groups) in a box - like this picture of a moss herbarium at Yellowstone National Park. You can make the packets the same way as the ones you used for collecting. This is the traditional style preprinted envelope I used for handing in samples on a lichen course I attended. This has got more than the bare what, where, when and who information,  - but as long as you include at least those either on the envelope or a separate label, you'll be fine.

But lichens are aesthetically pleasing and most if not all students who've collected them in the past have gone for a more open display. You could put them in a single clear-fronted case, or in lots of little boxes, or perhaps fasten them to a piece of mountboard, or make some kind of more naturalistic 'lichen diorama'. It depends how sober or creative you want to be. I just can't find an example of such a thing on the internet, which is distressing, and all previous lichen collections here have been proudly taken home by their creators. I look forward to taking a photo of yours.

And this being a taxonomic collection, you should make efforts to arrange them taxonomically in your display. But lichens are a bit strange because they're a symbiosis between two types of organism - a fungus plus an alga or cyanobacteria. Taxonomists have named and arranged them according to the fungal part of the relationship. If you want to know what the other part is, Dobson often says. It can be useful to know for identifications, because one of the photobionts, Trentepohlia, is orange not green when you scratch the lichen's surface.

When you're learning to identify lichens, it's really helpful to divide them by form: crustose, squamulose, foliose, fruticose... but those aren't taxonomic divisions and your display shouldn't be organised on that alone. It would be better to include the name of the family, and divide them like that.

I recommend using the Natural History Museum's Dictionary of UK Species to ensure you have up-to-date names and the correct family information.

If you have any questions, please do come and ask me, and bring your specimens!

Long tailed tits frequently use lichen in their nest building. CC image by Alan Shearman.