A genus of lichens with writing-like fruiting structures that create dark patterns on rock surfaces.
From Greek graphein 'to write' plus -is, a feminine nominative ending. Named by Acharius in the early 1800s for the lichen's appearance of lines written on stone.
These lichens can live for thousands of years, slowly writing their history onto rocks — some specimens are older than human civilizations that once covered the same ground!
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