Question

name the two components of lichens.

Answer 1

A lichen is a composite organism that emerges from an algae or cyanobacteria living among the filaments (hyphae) of a fungus in a mutually beneficial (symbiotic) relationship.

Answer 2

A lichen is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi[1] in a symbiotic relationship.[2][3][4] The combined lichen has properties different from those of its component organisms. Lichens come in many colours, sizes, and forms. The properties are sometimes plant-like, but lichens are not plants. Lichens may have tiny, leafless branches (fruticose), flat leaf-like structures (foliose), flakes that lie on the surface like peeling paint (crustose),[5] or other growth forms.[6]

A macrolichen is a lichen that is either bush-like or leafy; all other lichens are termed microlichens.[2] Here, "macro" and "micro" do not refer to size, but to the growth form.[2] Common names for lichens may contain the word moss (e.g., "reindeer moss", "Iceland moss"), and lichens may superficially look like and grow with mosses, but lichens are not related to mosses or any plant.[4]:3 Lichens do not have roots that absorb water and nutrients as plants do,[7]:2 but like plants, they produce their own food by photosynthesis.[8] When they grow on plants, they do not live as parasites, but instead use the plants as a substrate.