PREFACE 



X 



I began the study of lichens upon the advice of Emeritus Professor 

 Margaret C. Ferguson of Wellesley College and Professor Theodore C. 

 Frye of the University of Washington. Quite naturally my attention was 

 soon focused on the lichens of Washington, since I grew up in the state, am 

 a graduate of its university, and have always been interested in its flora. 

 Since so little has been written about the lichens of the state of Washington, 

 there seems to be a real need for this book. I did my first collecting in the 

 state in the summer of 1928 ; my most extensive trip was during the summer 

 and fall of 1931 ; further collections were made during the summers of 1930, 

 1934, 1937, and 1938. Again in 1940, when I had a sabbatical year from 

 Wellesley College, another extensive trip, lasting the entire summer, was 

 taken, and additional collections were made in the summer of 1942, 



I am by no means the first collector of lichens in the state ; in one of my 

 previous publications. Preliminary Report on the Lichens of the State of 

 Washington (1937), the work of earlier collectors in the state has been 

 reviewed. However, in that study no mention is made of the work of 

 Wilhelm N. Suksdorf, who did an immense amount of collecting in Wash- 

 ington. Mr. Suksdorf, who was born in Germany in 1850 and died in Wash- 

 ington in 1932, was interested in both cryptogams and phanerogams, and 

 records of his collections appear in various books and articles. Weber 

 (1944) has given an interesting account of Suksdorf 's botanical work. To 

 the list of collectors must be added the name of Alexander H. Smith, who 

 collected extensively in and near the Olympic National Park in 1935 and 

 1939. Hedrick (1942) published an annotated list of Smith's collections. 



In this book 335 species and varieties, 69 genera, and 28 families are 

 included. These constitute the commoner lichens of Washington, at least 

 in the regions that have been thoroughly explored. No doubt there are many 

 more species and varieties growing in the state that will be collected and 

 described in the years to come. In the keys to species, I have attempted, as 

 far as possible, to make use of the most evident and least questionable 

 characteristics, and to avoid separations based on color and other poorly 

 defined characters. I hope the distinguishing phrases or sentences character- 

 izing many of the species and varieties will prove helpful. It is rather doubt- 

 ful if anyone can construct keys that can be used successfully without access 

 to a reliable herbarium. 



In writing this book use has been made of the publications of many 

 students, the most important being: Tuckerman, Synopsis of the North 

 American Lichens, Pts. I and II (1882, 1888); Fink, The Lichens of 

 Minnesota (1910) ; Herre, The Lichens of the Santa Cruz Peninsula, Cali- 

 fornia (1910) ; Hasse, The Lichen Flora of Southern California (1913) ; 



