Definition of "lichens" []

• Plural form of lichen. (noun)

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• "Dark pigmentation causes higher heat absorption in lichens, which is especially favorable in the cold polar environment [117]."
• "The nearest analogue to this remarkable partnership is to be found in the vegetable kingdom, where, as the researches of Schwendener, Bornet, and Stahl have shown, we have certain algæ and fungi associating themselves into the colonies we are accustomed to call lichens, so that we may not unfairly call our agricultural Radiolarians and anemones"
• "Rootless plants called lichens often cover and corrode rocks as yet bare of soil; but where lichens are destroying the rock less rapidly than does the weather, they serve in a way as a protection."