Whoa there woah there...Lichens!!! Are they fungi, plant or what???

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UTlonghornDDS

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So what the heck are they? I always thought they were fungi? But in kaplan it says by convention they are non-vascular plants. Also it says theyre a composite organisms cause they have blue-green algaes living in them. So are they like fungi, plants, or prokaryotes. All a mixture of both.??:confused:

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Both cyanobacteria and fungi living in a symbiotic (mutualistic) arrangement.

The photosynthetic component can be green algae or cyanobacteria I believe.
 
I'd say mixture of both. Lichens are symbiotic relationships between fungi – mostly ascomycetes – and green algae and/or cyanobacteria. Their structures are pretty variable, but usually the overall structure of a lichen is given by its fungal partner...

Sorry - I'm not sure why Kaplan groups them as non-vascular plants... They are made of prokaryotes and fungi though...
 
lichens are a good example of something that is photosynthetic but not a plant
 
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