Lichens
Lichens thrive in environments where other plants struggle, such as bare rock. Photo: Jesse Bythell
Lichens are a symbiosis (two or more organisms living together more successfully than they could on their own). The basic components of lichens are a fungus called the 'mycobiont' and one or more algae and/or a cyanobacteria called the 'photobiont'.
The following links and references will be useful to anyone interested in lichens. Australian references are provided since New Zealand shares many lichen species with Australia:
New Zealand
Flora of New Zealand: Lichens, Galloway, DJ (1985), Govt. Printer, Wellington.
Flora of New Zealand: Lichens, (2nd, revised. edition), Galloway, DJ (2007) Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln. Full descriptions of all NZ lichens.
New Zealand Lichens. Malcolm, B & Malcolm, N (2000 & 2008) Micro-Optics Press, Nelson. With diagrams, many colour photos and interesting information about NZ lichens.
New Zealand lichens, Checklist, Key and Glossary, Malcolm, WM & Galloway, DJ (1997) Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington. With many detailed micro-photos of NZ lichens and an excellent illustrated glossary.
New Zealand’s Foliose Lichens, an illustrated Key. Malcolm, B & N; Knight, A (2010) Micro-Optics Press, Nelson. Excellent colour photos of all bar one of the NZ foliose genera, with an updated illustrated glossary of technical terms.
Australasian
Australian Lichen Checklist - Contains 1400 illustrations, 3 Keys and links to scientific papers and journals.
Australian Lichen Website - Good background information about lichens, with useful lists of lichen books and links.
Details of Flora of Australia: Lichens (5 Vols.) and other Australian lichen books.
Australasian Lichenology – publishes new discoveries in Australia and NZ.
Lichens of rainforest in Tasmania and south-eastern Australia, Kantvilas, G; Jarman, SJ & Fuhrer, BA (1999) ABRS, Canberra. Beautiful colour photos of 127 of the lager macro-lichen species, with keys. Many also occur in our New Zealand forests.
International
Microscopic spores of lichens catch the wind and are often widely distributed around the world. These 3 websites contain a multitude of magnificent, often enlargeable colour images of lichens.
North American Lichens – superb photos, many from the brilliant book with Irwin Brodo.
British Lichens – with a pictorial key arranged by growth form and colour.
Irish lichens - searchable alphabetically, by growth form and by habitat.
Lichens: An illustrated guide to the British and Irish Species. Dobson, FS (2011) Richmond Publishing Co., England. Photos, brief descriptions and keys to over 1000 species.
For more information about lichens see*
*The Network is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
This page last updated on 6 Nov 2012