Textbooks (TB) are an important source of content in schools, being, in some cases, the only didactic resource available for teachers and students. TBs are distributed free of charge by the Ministry of Education and Culture to public schools across the country, books approved by MEC are chosen by the school team. Considering the importance of this didactic material in the Biology subject in High School (HS), the definition of lichens was used as a necessary tool to develop competencies of the Common National Curriculum Base and skills of the São Paulo State Curriculum related to scientific thinking, the recognition of general characteristics of biological kingdoms and identification of habitat and ecological niche. The National High School Textbook Program 2018 books, currently used in Public Schools in HS, were analyzed. In nine collections, definitions were sought to answer the question: “What are lichens?” Considering the classification of symbiosis, the name of the participating organisms (mycobiont and photobiont) and also ecological importance. Eighteen books address lichens in Ecology or in Fungi Kingdom, of these 94.4% consider mutualism the main lichen formation association. One book (5.5%) mentions ascomycetes as mycobionts and two (11%) mention the formation of lichens by ascomycetes and basidiomycetes. As for photobionts, 38.8% mention algae, 44.4% mention algae and cyanobacteria, 5.5% single-celled chlorophytes and 5.5% Trentepohlia and cyanobacteria. The ecological importance is mentioned as bioindicators, 16.6%, 11% as pioneers in ecosystems, 27.7% as bioindicators and pioneers and 5.5% also treat them as producers. Most TB bring adequate information about the symbiosis that forms lichens, however they are not clear when mentioning the organisms participating in the interaction and, still, the importance of lichens for the food chain is practically ignored, being necessary to resort to other sources of information to get that knowledge.
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