This piece is part of the collection of mediation pieces that the Museum usually presents for its apparitions, with the purpose of familiarizing audiences with a few basic concepts regarding the Fungi Kingdom. Lichens are organisms that consist of a fungus and a photobiont (algae or cyanobacteria) that live in a symbiotic association: the fungus provides a structure that protects the algae from dehydration and unfavorable conditions, whilst the algae synthesizes and excretes a specific carbohydrate that the fungus uses as nourishment.