Foliicolous Lichens of India

Foliicolous lichens constitute one of the important components of biodiversity in wet or moist, high humid, foggy tropical and subtropical forests and confined mostly on upper surfaces of live leaves of plants called phorophytes. These lichens are characterized by low endemism and short life cycle, corresponding to the leaf lifespan. Thus, these lichens require careful collection, preservation and dissection because their thalli and ascocarps are easily detached from the surfaces of leaves. The study on Indian foliicolous lichens flourished well during the period between 1970 and 1980, but after that there has been a long gap except few sporadic publications made from few localities. However, in other parts of the world the study on this group was going on with great advancement. When this study was started again in India during 2001, a serious difficulty was faced since there were no recent literatures and desired facilities required for lifting up our study to the present day approach. Accumulation of world data, updating of nomenclature and procuring protologues were beset with many difficulties.