L. Hably szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 20. 1988 (Budapest, 1988)

Lőkös, László: Lichens on Fumana I. An investigation on herbarial sheets

STUDIA BOTANICA HUNGARICA (Antea: Fragmenta Botanica) XX. 1933 p. 101-108 Lichens on Fumana 1. An investigation on herbarial sheets By L. LŐKÖS (Received November 30, 1987) Abstract: A total of 170 herbarial sheets from the higher plant collection of the BP Herbarium with Fumana specimens on them were investigated. Epiphytic lichens were found on 35 of them and 14 lichen species could be distinguished. Rinodina pyrina (Ach.) Arn., a boreal-Mediterranean crustose lichen was found to be the most frequent species. Six lichen species are recorded from Fumana in Hungary for the first time. INTRODUCTION One usually thinks of epiphytic lichen vegetation as conspicuously coloured and large lichens covering trunks and twigs of single trees, trees of forests, orchards or rows of trees. Actually, when a field botanist is fascinated by this kind of view, he is inclined to pass the inconspicuous lichens living on dwarf shrubs. Nevertheless, in certain places dwarf shrubs may be the only supporters of epiphytic lichens (e.g., in sandy areas, rocky grasslands , etc. ). The occurrence of lichens on dwarf shrubs is well-known in Hungarian lichenology since SZATALA (1939a, 1939b) reported epiphytic lichen species from Fumana procumbens (Dun.) Gren. et Godr. and Salix rosmarinifolia L. collected in sandy areas around Kelebia and Szeged. The present study provides further details on the epiphytic lichen community living on Fumana specimens. The investigation was based on herbarial sheets of the higher plant collection. What kind of information for lichenologists can be derived from herbarial sheets of higher plants? 1. Laboratory conditions in certain cases make it possible to carry out a more thorough investigation. In laboratory the whole supporter plant can be studied by means of microscope, while in the field one usually collects only pieces of bark or twigs on which the lichens can be noticed with the naked eye or a hand-lens. 2. Lichenological data of great value for floristics can be obtained from places, altitudes or dates where or when lichenologists have not had opportunity to collect. 3. A complete lichen association can be observed which is especially useful if no further collecting can be carried out for any reason. 4. An exact substrate indication can be obtained through the name of the higher plant identified by specialists.