In Terra's rivers, flowing free,
Two lineages would come to be
United in a bond so strong
That lasted both their whole life long.
Great Symbio-Mygus, fungal lord,
Son of Mygus by accord,
Tenth generation from the line
Of Zygos, ancient and divine.
Fair Charina-Planta bright,
Daughter of photosynthetic light,
Tenth from Charina's algae clan
That lived where river waters ran.
These two would meet beside the shore
Of Lichen Lake, as none before.
A marriage of such different kinds:
The fungus with the plant combines.
"Come, fair maiden of the green,"
Said Symbio-Mygus, king serene.
"Let us join our different ways
And rule through all our living days."
"I capture light from sunny skies,
You gather nutrients that arise
From earth and stone and decay.
Together we can rule the day."
Charina-Planta heard his call
And agreed to join with all
Her photosynthetic might
To his fungal appetite.
"A fusion we shall create,"
She said, "to meet our fate.
Plant and fungus, side by side,
We'll conquer land both far and wide."
Their marriage was a wondrous sight,
Two kingdoms joining in their might.
An agricultural empire grand
Rose up to claim the fertile land.
When Lichen Lake was full and high,
They thrived beneath the open sky.
But when the waters dried away,
They slept until another day.
Dormant in the drought they lay,
Waiting for the rain's display.
When water came, they rose again
To rule their vast domain.
Together they bore children bright,
The lichens, filled with dual might.
Each one a fusion of their line,
Both fungal strong and plant divine.
Countless forms they took with glee,
Each suited to their destiny.
Fruticose lichens, tall and proud,
Like trees they rose above the crowd.
Reindeer Moss spread far and wide,
Goldeneye Lichen by their side.
Cladonia's cups held morning dew,
While Old Man's Hair in breeches grew.
The great foliose lichens came,
Leafy beauties earning fame.
Ruffle Lichen, soft and fair,
Pillow Lichen everywhere.
Physcia spread his leafy form
To weather every kind of storm.
These leafy beauties caught the light
And made the barren places bright.
The crusty crustose lichens strong
Could survive both short and long
The harshest places, dry and rough,
Where other life was not enough.
Rime Lichen on the mountain height,
Orange Sea Lichen, burning bright.
So tough they were, so strong to last,
They held when other life had passed.
The powdery leprose clan
Spread everywhere that they began.
Breaking apart upon the wind,
New territories they would find.
Leprose Lichen, golden dust,
Scattered with the wind's great thrust.
Golden particles would fly
To colonize both low and high.
Some lichens chose the hardest way,
Living in the rock to stay.
Endolithic forms so small
Made stone their home and all.
Ruby Firedot, burning red,
In solid rock made his bed.
Where nothing else could ever live,
He had his life to give.
The filamentous lichens came
To play a protective game.
They guarded cyanobacteria
From harm in every area.
Ephebe wrapped his threads around
The blue-green life that he had found.
Together they would make their home
Where neither could survive alone.
And strangest of them all to see
Were jelly lichens by the sea.
In gelatinous embrace
They found their living space.
Tar Jelly Lichen, dark and thick,
With cyanobacteria's magic trick.
In jelly they would swim and live,
And mutual aid they'd give.
But Symbio-Mygus, great though he,
Took another bride to see.
Trentophila, daughter fair
Of Trent, with golden hair.
The daughters of Trentophila
Spread far across the area.
They colonized the world around
With partnership they'd found.
Some turned to parasitic ways,
Like Cephaleura in her days.
She envied Amber's daughters bright
And stole their photosynthetic light.
But greatest of all partnerships
Were those that sailed on nature's ships:
The daughters of fair Amber true
And sons of Arbusculus too.
Great Amber wed Arbusculus,
Their union glorious.
They bore both Glomer and Ashley,
A pair both strong and free.
Now Ashley wed with Wort the wise,
And from their love there would arise
The ancestors of plants so green
And mosses, fairest ever seen.
A city they built upon the land,
Both beautiful and grand.
The first to leave the water's hold
And stake their claim so bold.
But Ashley could not stand alone
Upon the land of stone.
She needed help to gather food
From soil that was not good.
So Glomer, brother true and kind,
Connected with his mind
A network underground to share
The nutrients found there.
Like his lichen brothers old,
Glomer's story would be told
Of partnerships that help us thrive
And keep the world alive.
He dug into the earthen ground
Where minerals could be found.
While Ashley farmed in sunny light,
Their trade was mutual delight.
Ashley and Wort bore children countless,
Their progeny were boundless.
But raising young on land so dry
Required help from fungi nigh.
So Glomer built a network vast
That would forever last:
The Wood Wide Web, that ancient net
That serves the forests yet.
An underground economy
Of mutual harmony.
Each plant could trade with every other
Through their fungal brother.
The wood wide web was not a bubble,
Glomer solved their trouble.
He became the first to see
That cooperation sets us free.
His startup grew beyond all measure,
A network of such treasure.
Today he holds the largest share
Of fungal networks everywhere.
With eighty percent market hold,
His story still is told.
WoodNet service, tried and true,
Connects the forest through and through.
But other fungi joined the game,
Each seeking their own fame.
Ectomycorrhizae came
To play the network's game.
Amazon became a part
Of this great networked art.
The Wood Wide Web spreads far and wide
Through every forest side.
By this great union's might
Of Symbio-Mygus' sight
And Charina-Planta's power,
They conquered every hour.
They built their civilization grand
Upon the fertile land.
So great their empire grew to be
That it changed history.
Like daughters of Saya before,
Who'd opened evolution's door,
These lichens and their fungal kin
Made the ice age begin.
And so began the Cryogenian,
That age humanitarian.
The world froze over, white and cold,
As their great story told.
But in their icy reign supreme,
They lived the partnership dream.
That plant and fungus, side by side,
Could in the cold abide.
So honor Symbio-Mygus true
And Charina-Planta too.
Their marriage showed the world the way
That partnerships can stay.
In every lichen that you see
Upon the rock or tree,
Their legacy lives on today
In symbiotic display.
From mountain peak to ocean shore,
Their children evermore
Show us how two different kinds
Can join their hearts and minds.
The Wood Wide Web beneath our feet
Makes forest life complete.
The network that they started long
Ago still sings its song.
In partnership we find our strength,
We'll go to any length
To help each other as we grow
Through all that we may know.
The lichen's lesson, tried and true:
Together, me and you
Can face whatever storm may come
And never be undone.