LAC 31

Recorded 1967 A.D.
Disclosed 2011 A.D.

RHIZOCARPON
GEOGRAPHICUM

The parent of all maps. Before Mercator, before Eratosthenes, before the first finger was pointed in the first direction, even before fingers and directions were ever thought of, this lovely species of lichen had perfected the art of cartography. There were maps of America long before America came to be, maps of the dark side of the moon, maps of the birthmarks of Napoleons horse and of the freckled face of Queen Elizabeth I. Even the stains of grease on some fat belly by the table in a roadside diner was traced by the slow unfolding of the rhizocarpon, somewhere down the ancient labyrinth of time.