Lichens are classified by the fungal component. Lichen species are given the same scientific name (binomial name) as the fungus species in the lichen. Lichens are being integrated into the classification schemes for fungi. The alga bears its own scientific name, which bears no relationship to that of the lichen or fungus. There are about 20,000 identified lichen species, and taxonomists have estimated that the total number of lichen species (including those yet undiscovered) might be as high as 28,000. Nearly 20% of known fungal species are associated with lichens.
"Lichenized fungus" may refer to the entire lichen, or to just the fungus. This may cause confusion without context. A particular fungus species may form lichens with different algae species, giving rise to what appear to be different lichen species, but which are still classified (as of 2014) as the same lichen species.
Formerly, some lichen taxonomists placed lichens in their own division, the Mycophycophyta, but this practice is no longer accepted because the components belong to separate lineages. Neither the ascolichens nor the basidiolichens form monophyletic lineages in their respective fungal phyla, but they do form several major solely or primarily lichen-forming groups within each phylum. Even more unusual than basidiolichens is the fungus Geosiphon pyriforme, a member of the Glomeromycota that is unique in that it encloses a cyanobacterial symbiont inside its cells. Geosiphon is not usually considered to be a lichen, and its peculiar symbiosis was not recognized for many years. The genus is more closely allied to endomycorrhizal genera. Fungi from Verrucariales also form marine lichens with the brown algae Petroderma maculiforme, and have a symbiotic relationship with seaweed (such as rockweed) and Blidingia minima, where the algae are the dominant components. The fungi is thought to help the rockweeds to resist desiccation when exposed to air. In addition, lichens can also use yellow-green algae (Heterococcus) as their symbiotic partner.
Lichens independently emerged from fungi associating with algae and cyanobacteria multiple times throughout history.