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Re: Indicator plants
On Tue, 16 Apr 1996, Mark Thorson wrote:
> In article <4krbos$5u8@altrade.nijmegen.inter.nl.net>,
> Frits v/d Laan <f.vd.laan@inter.nl.net> wrote:
> >I would like to get any information about plants that are known to
> >indicate at a early stage anything to do with there environment,
> >shortage or to much of nutrician N, P, K, Mg etc. or are sensitive for
> >or atract insects earlier than most plants.
>
> Lichens are indicators of air pollution. Unlike vascular plants,
> they don't have any way to get rid of toxins, so they are
> particularly sensitive to environmental pollution.
>
some (epiphytic) mosses are as well. e.g. (in central europe) most
orthotrichum spec. tend to disappear with increasing air pollution (
or over-nutrition), a few like o.diaphanum tend to profit from this as
long as the changes are not too severe.
concerning lichens, there are a few that are rather resistant and may
profit from environmental changes, such as xanthoria parietina or
lecanora muralis.
References: