British lichenologists are very concerned about the conservation of lichens in the UK and Ireland and with good reason. Many lichens are in sharp decline in the face of nutrient enrichment from intensive farming which is reducing biodiversity across the country. Add to that the steady increase in housing developments and increased leisure use of the countryside and the future of many lichens looks bleak.
For these scientific, not emotional, reasons the British Lichen Society says…
Please leave lichens alone!
Consider the following points….
Lichens grow slowly
More than any other category of organisms used by dyers, lichens will be the slowest to renew. It is true that twigs on trees may have a covering of lichens in under ten years but this is a rather restricted community.
Lichens have specific habitat requirements
Many lichens are restricted to habitats which themselves are under enormous pressure. Much of the conservation work of the Society is concerned with saving whole habitats from destruction, mainly from development. Collection of lichens or indeed any plants from such habitats could be extremely damaging.
There are alternatives
Many dyes based on higher plants (those that produce flowers) are more light fast and give better results sooner than lichens, most of which have no value in dyeing. As with lichens, some plants are locally common while being nationally rare. But unlike lichens some of the best dye plants can be cultivated.
Be cautious about the literature
Some well known publications about using lichens as dyes are either dangerously out of date or are based on the lichen vegetation of other countries. Such publications may list lichens that are suggested for dye use which are (or were) common in the country concerned but will include lichens that are rare in the British Isles and should never be collected for any purpose. In North America for example there are large areas of montane vegetation compared to a tiny area in Britain.
Be even more cautious about social media
There is of course much useful information about the history and use of lichens as dyes on the internet but there is also disinformation and impulsive suggestions
The present is not the past
Historically, lichens were regularly used locally as an easily sourced component of dyeing and in some places this led to severe depletion of lichens and habitat degradation. Today lichens are not used commercially for dyeing but the scale of interest among textile artists and foragers poses a threat to lichen communities. Many lichens are, quite simply, not nearly as abundant as they used to be.
The legal situation
The British Lichen Society can only state its policy on dyeing using lichens, it has no powers of enforcement. But certain rare lichens, listed in section 8 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, are protected by law and it is also illegal to collect lichens and uproot plants without the permission of the landowner. Lichens and plants should not be collected from National Parks, nature reserves or SSSIs without permits.
If, in spite of the above, you feel that you must try using lichens as dyes, then the Society asks you to act in a responsible way:
- Please think of using lichens as colour experiments rather than producing useful quantities, i.e. work on a small scale.
- Take only what you need
- Use what you collect
- Collect from ‘doomed habitats’ such as branches and logs that are about to be burned
- Don’t scrape lichens off rocks
- Learn some common lichens
Published: November 2024