Vancouver Island Nature Tours

Common Witch’s Hair (Alectoria sarmentosa)

Originally uploaded by TheRainbird

This lichen is very common on the trees on the way up the saddle on Mount Arrowsmith. When I’m guiding I’m often asked if this plant is a fungus. The answer is no. Lichens are a symbiotic combination of a fungus and algae. As Jim Pojar puts it in his book, Plants of Coastal BC, It is a fungus that has taken up agriculture. The fungus gets, vitamin, proteins and carbohydrates from the algae while the algae gets protection from the elements. A fair deal I would say.
This lichen and other tree-growing or epiphytic lichens are important elements of deer and elk diets in the winter when forage is deeply buried under snow. Second growth forests, that is, forests that have grown up after the original forest was logged do not have much lichen in them. This is a sourc e of concern to biologists who manage the herds, not to mention the deer and elk themselves!

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