Foreword
FOREWORD
For Italians, New Zealand is a special country. At the age of seven, all of us had a geography lesson dedicated to antipodal areas. There, we learned that New Zealand is the antipode of Italy, and that, in spite of the peninsular vs insular nature of the two countries, they were somehow similar in shape and size. Thus, I still retain the impression of New Zealand being like a mirror image of my own country, lying in the most distant place on earth from it.
In 1993, David Galloway, as Past President of the International Association for Lichenology, wrote the Foreword to my first checklist of Italian lichens. Presently, as Past President of the same Association, I feel honoured to write the Foreword to his revised, second edition of Flora of New Zealand Lichens.
The two works mirror two contrasting situations in the history of lichenological exploration. In the case of Italy, as for most of Europe, the main problem was that of coping with a huge body of literature, the product of more than 200 years of intensive research, which needed to be critically evaluated. Not many new species were expected to be found in such a well-explored country, but several species were described in the past and then forgotten for various reasons. A great advantage was that the type specimens were preserved in Italy, or in neighbouring European countries. In the case of New Zealand, on the contrary, the body of ancient literature was much less bulky, but several new species were likely to be discovered, while the type material of most taxa described earlier from that country was preserved far away from it, several specimens even in its antipodal area.
David Galloway is the ideal person for investigating the lichen flora of New Zealand. His first "Flora", completed in 1983 and published in 1985, was primarily a herbarium-based compilation, prepared during his time at the Natural History Museum in London. There, and in many other European herbaria, he had the opportunity of investigating the type material of most of the species described from New Zealand – a fundamental, difficult work that would have been even more difficult if carried out from New Zealand. In November 1994, David returned to New Zealand to live, an ideal situation for pursuing the exploration of New Zealand lichens directly in the field.
Any Flora is an ephemeral work. It offers an indispensable basis for specimen revision, for the critical re-evaluation of poorly known taxa, and for the further exploration of an area. A Flora may, and should be, a catalyst for new, and more intensive research. In fact, the best criterion for a Flora to have accomplished its task as a facility to the scientific community is the speed of its becoming outdated. Flora of New Zealand Lichens of 1985 proved to be a great success: its publication acted as a spur to further lichenological investigations, not only of New Zealand, but also of other parts of the Southern Hemisphere. A number of enthusiastic local lichenologists emerged, closer linkages with lichenologists in Australia were forged, and the number and standard of lichenological publications increased dramatically. Already in 1992, David had published an updated checklist, to be followed in 1997 by a splendid illustrated book co-authored with W.M. Malcolm, including a still more updated checklist, and new keys to New Zealand lichens.
Twenty years on, the present book, with 1706 infrageneric taxa (70% more than in the flora of 1985!), appears as a monument to David's dedication to the lichen flora of his home country. The amount of information it contains and the level of detail and precision in the keys, descriptions, and geographic records are impressive. The introductions to genera, if taken separately from the whole book, would almost constitute by themselves a veritable treatise on lichen taxonomy, with full reference both to the most recent literature and to fundamental earlier works.
The lichen floras of New Zealand and of its antipodal area are very different, with only a few species in common. However, the interest of the present book goes far beyond the geographical limits of New Zealand. It is not only a gigantic milestone in the history of Southern Hemisphere lichenology, but also an indispensable tool for "antipodal lichenologists", and hence for lichenologists worldwide.
Prof. Pier Luigi Nimis
Dipartimento di Biologia
Universita de Trieste
Via L. Giorgieri 10
TRIESTE
I-34127 Italy
Past President: International Association for Lichenology
Composed in Venezia
20 March 2005
