Contents: Preface. Dedication. Quotation. Introduction. 1. Scope and treatment of the Taxa included. 2. Diversity of the Taxa treated. 3. Artificial key to the genera. 4. Short comments on the genera and their species in alphabetical order (Acarospora to Xanthoria). References. Index to genera and species.
"This volume of "Compendium of Macrolichens from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka" incorporates consolidated information in an alphabetical order of 122 genera and their 874 species and few varieties of Macrolichens reported from the area under consideration, with a view to help the new workers of Lichenology to identify their collections as the earlier literature is much dispersed and usually not available at many Indian institutions. Sufficient diagnostic characters or concise description have been formulated for each Taxon so that there is no difficulty in identification of the known Taxa. An artificial key to the genera and their species have been formulated in such a way that a young worker with basic knowledge of Lichenology can easily arrive at the conclusion to a correct species. In addition closely related Taxa have been distinguished by comments.
The species treated are as per the present Nomenclatural status and each Taxon has its valid name, the author(s) with the reference(s), type collection, selected synonyms and sometimes additional literature references for detailed information if needed. Out of 874 species only 810 are assumed to be presently growing in the area, while 64 species and few varieties reported earlier but seemingly absent (may be extinct now) are indicated by a double asterisk (**) marginally. The upcoming workers should strive to search for their occurrence in the areas of earlier report. In addition, a large number of Taxa listed at the end of each genus under the title "Comments on the Taxa, reported but not included above" though reported from the area in the past seem to be absent and it is likely that they may have been misidentified by the European Lichenologists who reported them from the area." (jacket)
