SOME ADVANCES IN LICHENOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF SOUTHERN AFRICA SINCE THE TIME OF LINNAEUS-I

Lichen flora of southern Africa have been unexplored for a long time. Biologists have attempted to work on lichen communities of southern Af rica since 1770 though, much interest is drawn in various aspects of l ichenology only in the recent years. First part of this paper deals wi th an account of the lichenology in southern Africa since the time of Linnaeus 1770 up to 1970 and is treated as historic account. Reference s have been made to the work of Almborn (1966) for the historical tabu lation of lichenological studies in this region. The subsequent parts include a comprehensive list of research publications in lichenology a rranged in alphabetical order since 1971. The major work in taxonomy, morphology, anatomy, phytochemistry, ecology, distribution etc. of lic hens from various parts of this peninsular region have taken place aft er 1970 and therefore, they are treated as recent work. Recent studies have shown that southern Africa represents a major centre of world di stribution of lichens. In spite of the recent development, most parts of southern Africa remain unexplored. There is a great scope for futur e investigations in this field.