The wet and misty peaks of Mount Canobolas are home to ninety species of lichens, encrusting rocks, soil and trees, including four species that occur nowhere else on earth. A rare endemic community dominated by foliose Xanthoparmelia species is listed as Endangered and also occurs only on the higher parts of the Volcanic Complex. Lichens are not part of the plant kingdom, but have long been thought of as a symbiosis between a fungus and a photosynthetic cyanobacterium. For a fascinating account of a new discovery about the lichen symbiosis read: How a Guy From a Montana Trailer Park Overturned 150 Years of Biology – The Atlantic.
CCA - Save Mt Canobolas 