Abstract
Excerpt: During a pre-congress excursion (23 July 2019) to the Sintra mountain range, led by the organizers of the XXII Symposium of Cryptogamic Botany, we found foliicolous (epiphyllous) lichens growing abundantly in the ‘enchanted forest’ of Peninha (38°46′9.06″N, 9°27′32.27″W), c. 40 km north-west of Lisbon. Foliicolous lichen communities are principally tropical but do occur to a limited extent in subtropical and oceanic-temperate regions where high humidity, relatively mild conditions, and adequate non-deciduous leaf substrata are found (Santesson Reference Santesson1952; Lücking Reference Lücking2008). In Europe, foliicolous lichen communities are mainly restricted to highly localized microsites, particularly protected gorges and ravines. Such localities have been reported within, and north and south of, the Pyrenees (Vězda & Vivant Reference Vězda and Vivant1972; Sérusiaux Reference Sérusiaux1993; van den Boom & Sérusiaux Reference van den Boom and Sérusiaux1996; Llop & Gómez-Bolea Reference Llop and Gómez-Bolea2006, Reference Llop and Gómez-Bolea2009), in southern Italy (Puntillo et al. Reference Puntillo, Bricaud and Sérusiaux2000) and in the Black Forest (Lücking et al. Reference Lücking, Wirth and Ahrens2009). While foliicolous lichen communities are known from the laurisilva forests of Madeira and the Azores, previous reports from continental Portugal appear limited to a collection of Byssoloma subdiscordans (Nyl.) P. James on cycad leaves in Monserrate Park, Sintra (as B. rotuliforme; Santesson Reference Santesson1952). Other foliicolous species from continental Portugal have been cited mainly on bark substrata (Santesson Reference Santesson1952; Sérusiaux Reference Sérusiaux1996, Reference Sérusiaux1998; Breuss Reference Breuss2016).
