Field Guide to the Common Lichens Of Corbett Tiger Reserve

Contents Preface. 1. The lichen as a plant. 2. Growth forms. 3. Reproductive structure. 4. Growth. 5. Economic importance of lichens. 6. Classification of lichens. 7. Where lichens are to be found in park. 8. How to use the keys. 9. Key to the common lichens of Corbett Tiger reserve. 10. Species description. Glossary. In the last century a lot of research work regarding the Indian lichens has been done by the European and Indian lichenologist. However there is no single booklet or field guide of lichen is written for the amateur naturalist. Lichens are among the most widely distributed plant organism in the world. To date there are about 20 000 lichen species known in the world out of which Indian subcontinent is represented by 2 450 species. Few professional lichenologist only know about this unique creation of nature. Thus the present booklet is an experiment to popularize the lichens among wide audience of this country. A field guide can serve its purpose only if it is small. Therefore only 25 common lichen taxa of the park are included for making the guide handy and unexpensive. The colour illustrations are included since colour is an important feature in identification of lichens. The colour illustrations are enlarged enough to give a good idea of the different taxa. 41 pp. …