From forest floor to film star UMFK lichenologist aids big-screen ‘Hulk’

FORT KENT – It’s a real shame the film industry does not hand out an Academy Award for “best performance by lichen in a dramatic role.”

If it did, a sure bet for this year’s Oscar would be a diminutive specimen that got its big break last summer. Like many celebrities who make it in Tinsel Town, that break came from knowing the right people and being in the right place at the right time.

In something of a breakout role, Rhizocarpon geographicum has several cameo appearances in the newly released big screen version of “Hulk.”

Known as yellow map lichen to its friends and fans, the plant was featured in three “dream sequences” in the movie.

“I’m still not really sure how this all happened or why they picked this particular lichen,” Dr. Steven Selva, spokesman for the new star, said in his extensive herbarium housed at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.

Lichen is the living symbiotic association of a fungus and an alga partner. The plant serves as food for deer, reindeer and caribou, is used in various dyes, including those used to make Harris tweed. It also provides shelter for numerous tiny organisms at the bottom of the food chain.

Selva has taught lichenology – the study of lichens – at UMFK for 27 years. His herbarium contains more than 50,000 specimens, 49,999 of which have not made it to the big time. He has specialized in the study of calicioid or stubble lichens. He has discovered and named numerous new species and linked them as important indicators of old-growth forests.

While many of his students have gone on to make their marks in the scientific world, Selva never imagined any of his specimens would one day be in line for a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. It began with a phone call last summer from a colleague in the process of publishing the just-released, massive “Guide to North American Lichens.”

Photographer Stephen Sharnuff had collaborated with Selva back in 1996 when the UMFK professor escorted him on lichen-hunting field trips in northern Maine. Last summer, acting on a request from Universal Studios in Hollywood, Sharnuff came looking for a very specific lichen with that certain “je ne sais quoi” for the big screen.

“Sharnuff knew this certain lichen grew in high altitudes in California, but he didn’t have time to go and collect it,” Selva said. “He remembered seeing one in my collection he thought would work nicely.”

Lichens do not respond well to casting calls, so Selva, his son Matt and a fellow UMFK professor hiked into a rock slide near Deboullie Mountain – a spot where lichens are known to grow – one wet, rainy day.

The trio was able to collect 20 pounds of rocks containing aspiring Rhizocarpons, and the collection was boxed up and flown to California.

Like any good agent, Selva did not stop with one offering. Accompanying Rhizocarpon to California were several specimens of Lasallia Papulosa, “common toad skin,” which he felt would make nifty-looking fake skin.

Selva figures his lichens were selected for their unique appearance.

“They are really colorful,” he said.

Unable to make the Hollywood premier, Selva and his family made do with catching the movie’s opening at a local theater earlier this summer.

“We sat through the whole movie and did see the actual lichen in those dream sequences,” Selva said. “There were three or four of those, about 30 seconds each.”

Selva is certain he spotted the toad skin lichen in a segment where the villain’s skin transforms. He plans to purchase the movie the minute it comes out on DVD. That way, he can watch his lichens frame by frame.

“The Incredible Hulk” – or at least portions of it – may become required viewing for Selva’s future lichenology students.

“It’s really kind of neat,” the professor said. “People will see lichens and not think twice about them. Now it’s kind of exciting for people interested in lichens to be able to see them in a movie.”