This volume contains 33 peer-reviewed contributions by 70 authors, many leaders in their field, and is wide-ranging in its taxonomic scope. A total of 38 new taxa (35 species, 2 genera, 1 family) are described, including 8 honorific names for Tom Nash in recognition of his lichenological legacy. Taxonomic treatments cover regions throughout the world, including coastal Chile (Niebla, Sclerophyton), Îles Kerguelen (Aspiciliopsis, Placopsis), the Sonoran Desert (Roccella), the Southern Hemisphere (Buellia subalbula-group), Thailand (Malmidea), and the West Indies (Phyllopsora). Molecular phylogenetic analyses are also integrated in 7 studies and 8 include taxonomic keys. Lichens and lichenicolous fungi from over 30 genera are covered (e.g., Acarospora, Bulbothrix, Caloplaca, Candelaria, Canoparmelia, Circinaria, Cliostomum, Endococcus, Enterographa, Holospora, Lecidea, Lichenochora, Merismatium, Niebla, Parmotrema, Pseudopeltula, Punctelia, Rinodina, Solenopsora, Usnea, Xanthoparmelia), many wonderfully illustrated (40 b/w-figures and >120 images in 16 colour plates). Numerous other figures and tables document distributions, chemistry, and morphology for the taxa included.

The volume dedicated to Thomas H. Nash III on the occasion of his 65th birthday also offers analyses and thought provoking discussion related to aspects of lichen ecology and the use of lichens in biomonitoring, and a biography and bibliography spanning the career of T.H. Nash III (~40 yrs.) are also included.

Thomas Hawkes Nash III has worked on lichenology especially on lichen ecology, ecophysiology for 40 years. He is probably the best known about the following books edited by him: “Lichen biology” or the “Lichen flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region I–III”. On the occasion of the 65th anniversary of his birth a special volume containing 33 papers by 70 authors (!) is dedicated to him.

Bennett established high Cu concentration in lichens growing in protected areas in S-Arizona. Howe and Lendemer studied a recolonised lichen community near a former zinc smelter. Riddell et al. followed changes in lichen composition and cover due to declining air quality in S-California. The effect of pine oak forest management was studied on lichens in Mexico by Pérez Pérez et al. McCune and Printzen analysed distribution and climatic niches of Lecanora varia group in western USA. Rosentreter and Debolt compared the lichen flora and environmental conditions for lichens in Florida and Arizona. The relation between distribution and change between various environmental changes was investigated by Will-Wolf et al. in Wisconsin, USA. All the other papers are on taxonomy and systematics covering altogether large taxonomic fields (30 genera, among them 2 new for science: Malmidea for Lecidea piperis group, Trinathotrema for Ocellularia stictidea and Conotrema lumbricoides) and geographical areas (from the Cape Verde via the Kerguelen Islands, Chile, Australia to S-Africa). It is difficult to choose the most interesting examples of the 35 new species, like the lichen Caloplaca tomnashii and the lichenicolous fungus Lichenochora hyperphysciae or the lichenicolous lichen Acarospora nashii. For such a high number of new taxa, a list would have been useful to add to the volume. Also, an index for all the names would be important for an easier handling of the enormous amount of data gathered in the volume. Concerning to the wide range of topics, the volume is also very rich in methods applied from standard to fluorescence microscopy or those of mathematical statistics or molecular biology, various programs for climatic modelling and phylogenetic analysis were also used.

The volume contains 16 excellent colour plates illustrating seven papers. Unfortunately from the legends of the colour plates the indications about the paper where the plate is belonging to are missing.

Publications by Thomas Nash are listed on 14 pages. These are between 1971 and 2010 (some are missing, e.g. those in Bibliotheca Lichenologica 105, 2010), however we need to keep an eye on a new “chapter” starting with 2011. A rather sad paragraph is added to the preface as endnote, telling about the hard financial/personal situation at lichen herbarium of the Arizona State University what is now in danger – it would be the here celebrated Thomas Nash’s valuable and in words inexpressible legacy (50,000 specimens collected by himself of the altogether 110,000 lichen specimens!). The chapter on “The natural history dilemma in the age of bioinformatics” (by Lücking et al. on pp. 204–206) is highly recommended to read and also worth for consideration. Thomas and Corinna Nash did a lot on bioinformatics that for each specimen the collection information would be accessible online, also that virtual floras could exist. In my opinion their purpose is the easy accessibility (in time and space) and not that the information available on a PC could replace the real world. Herbarium specimens ever collected are preserving a part of nature from the past. Future generations will never have the possibility to collect information held in these specimens if they are not kept properly or handled by professional care. With recent directions of “development” we take the chance away from them for being able to ever reconstruct nature damaged considerably due to human activities by now.

E. FARKAS

Acta Botanica Hungarica 53 (3-4), 2011, p. 442-443