A List of Lichens from Southeastern Alaska 



Albert W. C. T. Herre 

 State Normal School, Bellingham, Washington 



The southeastern portion of Alaska has an exceedingly irregular coast 

 line, most plentifully besprinkled with islands of all sizes and shapes. 

 In the tide channels about the islands and fjords are vast forests of 

 giant kelp. During the summer of 1913 the Bureau of Soils of the Uni- 

 ted States Department of Agriculture sent an expedition to investigate 

 these kelp beds with a view to determining their availability as a source 

 of potash. This party, headed by Dr. T. C. Frye of the University of 

 Washington, studied not only the kelp forests but also the whole crypto- 

 gamic flora in general. ^Ir. A. S. Foster, well known as an enthusiastic 

 collector of mosses and lichens, obtained most of the latter plants, tho 

 Dr. Frye and Mr. Dean Waynick also collected many specimens of lichens. 



About 462 species and varieties of lichens have hitherto been enum- 

 erated from Alaska, while the present list adds 20 species and subspecies, 

 new to Alaska, making a total of 482. When one considers the enorm- 

 ous area and varied topography of Alaska this is a small number of 

 lichens to be collected and shows that as a matter of fact the lichens of 

 Alaska are but imperfectly known. The present collection of but 86 

 species and varieties contains over 18 per cent of species not previously 

 collected, and also a number that have been collected only once or twice 

 before, thus showing that every collection may be expected very greatly 

 to increase our knowledge of Alaskan lichens. 



It will be noted that the lichen flora of this region is, in general, 

 about the same as that of all other northern regions having a cool, humid, 

 foggy climate. The lichen flora of the islands visited by Dr. Frye's ex- 

 pedition may be considered as merely a northward extension of the lichen 

 flora of Puget Sound and Vancouver Island, and as being intermediate 

 between them and the arctic lichen flora of the interior of Alaska in geo- 

 graphical position. These facts and the ecological conditions of the 

 region account for the poor representation of boreal species at this latitude. 



Altho this region visited lies between latitude 54 and 58 degrees, it 

 has a very mild climate for such a northern region. But in spite of this, 

 the paucity of true arctic lichens in this list is to be also accounted for in 

 part by the fact tliat all the lichens collected by Dr. Frye and his col- 

 leagues were obtained at or not very far above sea level. 



The genus Cladonia, a characteristic group of northern latitudes, is 

 am))ly represented, ten species, or nearly one-eighth of all the species 



. (279) 



