Let's try to make Litmus test paper from wild lichens
A litmus test paper, used to test acidity and alkalinity, is a familiar sight in science classes of Junior high school. In the past, a litmus test paper was made from the purple dye extracted from a lichen called litmus lichens that grew in the Mediterranean region. Representative species is Roccella tinctoria . As you already know, a lichen is a symbiotic organism of fungi and algae. But currently, litmus test papers commercially available are made from chemically synthesized pigments. A friend of mine (a former science teacher at junior high school) recently held a Science Cafe to try to make a litmus test paper from wild lichens at the antiquarian bookshop & cafe he runs for 5 years. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend, but I went to his bookshop later to hear how the science cafe was and to take a look at the experimental materials used at that time. Since litmus lichens are not distributed in Japan, in this experiment, he used the lichen called Umenoki-go...
