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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: