International Association for Lichenology: the early years.
One of the main purposes of the International Association for Lichenology (IAL), inaugurated in 1967, was to establish a Newsletter in order to provide a forum for lichenologists worldwide to communicate with each other. In consequence, the early history of the IAL is in large degree the story of the International Lichenological Newsletter (ILN). Those responsible for organising the IAL at this time were essentially the editors of the Newsletter, hard-working people, collating hundreds of short notes on lichenologists and their current projects and opinions from all over the world, as well as reports of meetings and social events. Although the possibilities of communication have increased enormously in recent years, the function of IAL and its Newsletter remain the same, and the initial enthusiasm for exchanging ideas and results and reporting meetings continues undiminished.
Analysis of chemical and morphological variation in the Ramalina siliquosa species complex
In an attempt to clarify the taxonomy of the polymorphic maritime lichens of theRamalina siliquosa group in Europe, variation was analyzed in visible and chemical characteristics of 1042 specimens from four localities (one station each in Scotland, Wales, England, and Brittany). The plants belong to six major chemical types representing a replacement series of closely related medullary depsidones. There is a broad correlation of chemical and visible traits. The narrower-lobed often basally blackened individuals (corresponding approximately to the usual concept of “R. curnowii”) produce no medullary constituents nor norstictic or stictic acids. The broader-lobed unblackened ones (corresponding approximately to the usual concept of “R. siliquosa”) produce stictic, salazinic, protocetraric, or hypoprotocetraric acids. The proportion of each chemical type in the four populations studied varies markedly. The southern (English and French) populations together contain all six chemical variants in roughly similar proportions. However, to the north, in Wales and Scotland, the populations become simpler as some chemical races drop out and salazinic acid-producing plants predominate. These findings correlate well with the general geographic distribution of the chemical variants from a study of 117 herbarium specimens. The chemically distinct plants have different amplitudes of ecologic tolerance which appear to regulate niche selection in theRamalina zone, the conspicuous vegetational belt which these lichens form above the intertidal zone on the Atlantic and Baltic coasts of Europe. The complex is interpreted as a set of six species differing to an extent by visible traits but primarily by chemical, geographical, and ecological ones. Three of the species are new:Ramalina atlantica Culb.,R. stenoclada Culb., andR. druidarum Culb. A hypothetical scheme is suggested to explain the evolutionary origin of the species recognized.
Some Microchemical Tests for the Lichen Depsidone Hypoprotocetraric Acid
Hypoprotocetraric acid, a depsidone of the p-orcinol type recently found in a race of Ramalina siliquosa, can be identified by microcrystal tests and by chromatography. This substance replaces protocetraric acid in individuals in some populations of Ramalina farinacea in France. Hypoprotocetraric acid (Fig. 1) is a depsidone of the p-orcinol type closely related to protocetraric acid. It was first obtained by Asahina and Tanase (1933) by synthesis from fumarprotocetraric acid. Hypoprotocetraric acid was unknown in nature until recently when it was identified (C. F. Culberson 1965) in a race of Ramalina siliquosa (Huds.) A. L. Sm. from western Europe. It seems to occur in at least