I’m a fungi, and people lichen me! Check it out! It kinda grows on ya. Hundreds of different lichen species adorn the Sierra Nevada. They can be found in almost any habitat, from trees and shrubs at the lowest elevation, to the exposed rock over 13,000 feet high at the summit of Mt. Lyell, Yosemite National Park’s highest peak. It’s hard to miss the bright yellow-green of wolf lichen (Letharia vulpine). Some trunks and branches can be almost completely covered with it, but this does not hurt the trees. The lichen is merely taking advantage of the crags and crevasses of the bark to latch onto. Wolf lichen is cold tolerant, and researchers think it may even photosynthesize in the winter. It has served many uses over the years as a part of flower arrangements, a dye, a poultice and even a poison. While many other lichens are edible for humans and other animals, wolf lichen is one of the few poisonous lichens. It’s not that other lichens don’t produce harmful acids or toxins, it is mo...