XIII Symposium of Cryptogamic Botany (Madrid, December 19^th-21^st 1999)

This traditional Symposium, held at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and organized the Faculties of Biology and Pharmacy, confirmed its status as an active forum for discussion of the latest advances in Cryptogamic Botany, including Lichenology, in southern Europe. More than 40 lichenologists were present, mainly from Spain, but also from Portugal, Italy, Austria and Morocco. Lichenological communications on lichens were wide-ranging. During Poster Sessions, contributions on taxonomy, ecology and phytogeography of lichen genera (Usnea, Placynthium, Lobaria, Pseudocyphellaria, Sticta, etc.) and species (Buellia ericina, Caloplaca saxicola), and lichenicolous fungi (Arthonia, Polycoccum) were presented and discussed. Most of them were related to the ambitious Iberian Lichen Flora project: the results will contribute to a better knowledge of lichen diversity in this area, and to the scientific quality of that forthcoming work. Reflecting the high interest in molecular methods, there were numerous contributions on the phylogenetic relationships and population biology of several lichen genera (Physconia, Parmelia, Koerberia, Buellia epigaea group, etc.), followed by a stimulating discussion. Phytosociology and conservation of lichen species or communities made up the sessions centred on taxonomy and biology. I wish to emphasize the contributions by our colleagues from Italy and Morocco. The most interesting results concerned phytogeography and diversity in the W Mediterranean Region. Active and high quality participation were maintained in the sessions dedicated to Ecophysiology, Bioindication and Biodeterioration. The effects of pollutants on species and communities, the ecophysiological and anatomical responses from different habitat conditions, water relations and morphology of lichen thalli, colonization and deterioration of historical monuments by lichens, were the most treated subjects. Areas for future research were emphasized in the workshop on Structure of the lichen thallus, organized as a follow-up to the former Symposium at Valencia. Also in this section, we very much appreciated the contributions of our Portuguese and Italian colleagues. The Scientific Committee granted a special Award for the best contribution by a young researcher, which went to the poster by P. Pinho, J. Pereira and C. Máguas (Centro de Ecologia e Biologia Vegetal. Lisboa, Portugal) entitled "Lobaria pulmonaria (L.) Hoffm. Biomass variation: experimental methods to access environmental changes". In conjunction with the Symposium, the Steering Committee organized a workshop on "Magnitude and distribution of biodiversity. Evolution and crisis". S. Rivas-Martínez, P.L. Nimis, L. Kappen and D. Hawksworth presented examples of ecological factors (climate, pollution, extreme conditions) affecting biodiversity worldwide. P.L. Nimis also demonstrated the new possibilities opened up by the Internet to reach a better knowledge of lichen diversity worldwide, and the transformation of his earlier checklist of Italian lichens into a database searchable on-line. Finally, D. Hawksworth gave a talk about past and present biodiversity studies, and put forward an interesting point of view about reasons for protecting threatened species of fungi. P.T. DePriest and B. Schroeter, the keynote speakers of the Lichen Section, offered us interesting advanced results from their recent research. They delivered excellent lectures on the phylogeny and evolution of lichen symbionts and on ecophysiological behavior (photosynthesis and primary production) of lichens in extreme environments, respectively. The interest of these lectures was enhanced by the active part played by the participants during the discussion. Contributions will be eventually published in a special volume of Lazaroa, edited by the Universidad Complutense. As usual, the meeting of the Sociedad Española de Liquenología (SEL) was held during the Symposium, chaired by the new Board, renewed during the last SEL excursion in September 1998, of: A. Crespo (President), C. Ascaso (Vice-president), N. Hladun (Treasurer and responsible for publications), L.G. Sancho (Secretary), J. Álvarez, X. Llimona and V. Atienza. J.M. Egea, the coordinator of the Iberian Lichen Flora Project, spoke on the progress of this project, with special emphasis on the publication of the first volume. The variety and quantity of the lichenological subjects in this Symposium testify to the impressive scientific activity of the large and heterogeneous group of Mediterranean lichenologists. As usual, this was also a meeting of friends, sharing their common interests, interchanging information, and jointly planning new research. The participation of so many new young researchers, who acquired more confidence and greater motivation, was perhaps the greatest achievement of the Congress. I myself had the impression of being surrounded by an unusually easy and constructive atmosphere, and I think that all participants shared this feeling. All those who contributed to the organization, directed by Ana Crespo (President of the Symposium), are to be thanked for their efforts to unify scientific communication and personal relationships in such a pleasant and constructive atmosphere. The next meeting will be organized by the University of Murcia (June 2002), under the presidency of the mycologist, Dr. M. Honrubia.

Simon Fos, Valencia

14^th Meeting of Australasian Lichenologists (Melbourne, April 29-30^th 2000)

Participants: Alan Archer, Jennifer Bannister, David Eldridge, Jack Elix, Sharon Ford, Bruce Fuhrer, Jim Gardner, Gintaras Kantvilas, Niels Klazenga, Simone Louwhoff, Dorothy Mahler, Tom May, Pina Milne, Martine Paull, Kathleen Ralston, Noel Schleiger, Val Stajsic, Nell & Neville Stevens.

Saturday April 29^th - Conference - The 14^th meeting of the Australasian lichenologists took place on april 29^th at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, Australia. The conference, attended by 19 participants, including professionals, Ph.D. students, and (very) keen and capable amateurs, was opened with a welcome by T. May, mycologist from MEL. This was followed by an address by J. Elix, who reflected on the history of The Australasian Lichenologists and on the progress of lichenology in Australia (through the Flora of Australia volumes and individual contributions). Sh. Ford, a Ph.D. student at Deakin University, Melbourne, working on lichens in the Victorian rainforest, presented preliminary results of her research, including a comparison of the lichen flora from different types of rainforest, and host preference. J. Elix from the Australian National University, Canberra, accompanied his presentation on "Why are lichens coloured?" with a colourful slide-show, and talked about the nature and function of some of the chemicals responsible for the bright colours of lichens. J. Bannister, University of Otago Herbarium, was our much appreciated "token" New Zealand participant, and spoke about the variation and distribution of species of Ramalina of New Zealand, based on herbarium records and her personal collections and observations. K. Ralston, an Honorary Associate at MEL, spoke about Australia's pioneer lichenologist, the Reverend F.R.M. Wilson, providing an insight into the life of this Presbyterian Minister and dedicated lichen collector, and his contributions to lichenology in Australia. G. Kantvilas, from the Tasmanian Herbarium in Hobart, spoke about the conservation of Tasmanian lichens, highlighting the importance of legislative protection for lichens and the preservation of lichen habitats by means of reserves. Along similar lines, D. Eldridge, from the Department of Land and Conservation in New South Wales, presented a proposal for listing non-vascular plants on the Threatened Species List, and stressed that both individuals and specialist groups in Australia, such as the Australasian Lichenologists, should nominate and submit a list of lichen species to be included on the Threatened Species List. A. Archer, Honorary Associate of the National Herbarium of NSW, presented his findings on the family Graphidaceae, with detailed slides of some of the spores and thalli of the species examined, including new species reported. S. Louwhoff spoke of her search for Parmeliaceae (and croissants) in New Caledonia, part of a Ph.D. study at the Australian National University, Canberra. She presented a travelogue of her fieldwork in New Caledonia, including slides of new species described. An informal meeting followed, during which the inclusion of lichens on the Threatened Species List was again discussed, especially because of the need to raise the profile of cryptogams. Progress on the forthcoming volumes of the Flora of Australia was also discussed. The need for postdoctoral positions to train and employ young Australian taxonomists was also discussed, and the students present were much in favour of this suggestion. The Blue Mountains, New South Wales, were suggested as the venue for the next meeting, in 2002. A Conference dinner was held at the Cotton Lounge, Toorak, where fine food, wine and company made for a good night for all.

Sunday April 30^th - Fieldtrip to the Brisbane Ranges National Park - After a beautiful, sunny day on the Saturday (which we spent indoors listening to lectures), we woke to the sound of rain on Sunday morning (to be spent outdoors collecting lichens). Most lichenologists are probably familiar with this meteorological phenomenon. Nevertheless most of the participants from the previous day met at the designated spot (Sapling Gully picnic area) in the Brisbane Ranges National Park, armed with raincoats, umbrellas, collecting gear and a happy disposition. The Brisbane Ranges National Park is situated approximately 80 km west of Melbourne and has a rich native flora, dominated by Eucalyptus, Hakea, Bush peas (Pultenea), Grevillea and Acacia. A list of 35 species in 23 genera of lichens had been prepared by Kath and Sharon, and our aim was to find these lichens, and add more to the list! Soon there was the familiar sight of bottoms up and noses down, followed by excited chatter, or disappointed sighs. The hardest part is always getting the excited mob back into the car for the next collecting spot, but Sharon handled it well with promises of coffee and home-made chocolate slice. Despite the rain, small paper bags were filling up and new records were being added to the list rapidly. The crowd dispersed in the afternoon with people needing to catch planes, relatives, beer, some sleep... I am certain that I speak for all participants in saying that the Conference was a success, in every way, especially in terms of the exchange of invaluable ideas and discussions which took place. Many thanks are extended to K. Ralston for organizing the formal part of the conference, and the dinner, and to Sh. Ford for organizing the field-trip and a very scrumptious lunch (also home-made!). We are most grateful to the National Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, for providing the venue, technical equipment and refreshments and to Parks Victoria for providing permission to make small, personal collections. Looking forward to the next meeting already!

Simone Louwhoff, Canberra

The California Lichen Society sponsored a series of lectures during the early months of 2000, held at the Herbarium of the University of California at Berkeley. In February, environmental consultant David Magney spoke about Rare and Endangered Lichens. He described the laws and regulations already in place which can be used to protect them, and the need to educate both the public and the state legislators about lichens so that this protection will become a fact. David has prepared a Preliminary Red List for Californian Lichens, available on the web at http://128.32.109.44/red page.html. The world of mosses was the subject of the March lecture. Mona Bourell, Senior Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Botany at the California Academy of Sciences, gave an illustrated and detailed introduction to the bryophytes, including the habitats they so often share with lichens, which opened the eyes of many in the audience to the variety and beauty of mosses. Richard Moe, phycologist at the University of California Herbarium, spoke to us in April about Algae, in and out of Lichens. His lecture gave an overview of the changes in the taxonomy of this group over the years; their adaptation to the many environments, marine and terrestrial, in which they occur; and the role of algae as photobionts in lichens and other plants and animals. The final lecture was an impressive report by Nina Jablonski, Chair of the Department of Anthropology at the California Academy of Sciences and editor of The Natural History of the Doucs and Snub-nosed Monkeys. She spoke about the lichen-eating snub-nosed langurs of southern China, interesting monkeys which are one of the very few primates that eat lichens. In one species, Rhinopithecus bieti, lichens are the primary component of their diet. The lecture included information on social organization and other aspects of the lives of these monkeys as well. The lecture series was declared a success and will be continued next year.

Janet Doell

Lichen Exhibition in Bratislava (July 22^nd - October 29^th 1999)

An exhibition entitled Lichens - Endangered Partnership was held at the Slovak National Museum of Bratislava last year. In a display area of about 192 m², 45 posters and 8 museum showcases were placed. Nearly 130 lichen specimens from various parts of the world, as well as medicaments, cosmetic products, decorative articles, literature, etc., were displayed. A leaflet (kindly sponsored by The Club of Botanists Ján Futák), provided the visitors with all there was to know about lichens in a nutshell. The exhibition aimed at making the general public familiar with these inconspicuous organisms (often confused with mosses!), combining education with delight. It focused both on the high susceptibility of lichens to environmental disturbances, causing their widespread extinction and the need of their conservation. The high importance of lichens as biomonitors of atmospheric pollution was also stressed. The exhibition was visited by about 9,000 visitors, including residents - mostly school children, teachers, University students of botany, the staff of other museums as well as many tourists. We are very pleased that the exhibition will continue to be shown this year in other Slovak museums, such as those in Liptovský Mikuláš and Hlohovec, so that even more visitors can see it. The organizers would like to express their deepest thanks to all those who unselfishly contributed to the successful realization of the exhibition, particularly J. Halda and H. Wójciak, and further (alphabetically) to M. Backor, V. Banásová, I.M. Brodo, I. Kautmanová, G. McKie, Z. Kyselová, P. W. Lambley, A. Lackovicková, J. Liška, W. M. Malcolm, Z. Palice, I. Pišút, S. Sharnoff, D. Sláviková, TOMs of Maine (USA) and, last but not least, V. Wirth.

Eva Lisická, Bratislava, Slovakia

Fourth GLAL Meeting, Bariloche (November 28^th- December 4^th 1999)

The Fourth Meeting of the Grupo Latino Americano de Liquenólogos (GLAL4), took place at the Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche (Universidad Nacional del Comahue), in Bariloche, Argentina, at the end of 1999. Susana Calvelo and Sandra Liberatore organized it with the help of Emiliana Bernasconi. Lichenologists from Austria, Brasil, Chile, Finland, Germany and Argentina attended. During the meeting devoted to lichens from Latin America there were papers on lichen culture, taxonomy of different groups, historical review of lichenology in Uruguay, morphology and chemistry of lichens, special programs for literature on-line, checklist information, uses of lichens as bioindicators, beside the poster sessions. Two round table discussions were held, one on the cryptogamic flora of Tierra del Fuego and the other on the teaching of lichenology at different levels of education. There were three field trips: to the Patagonian steppe, to a Nothofagus pumilio deciduous forest and to the Valdinian rainforest. T. Ahti and S. Stenroos gave a Workshop on Cladoniaceae and O. Vitikainen on Peltigera. During the meeting there was also a General Assembly of GLAL. As usual, the place where the next meeting will be held was chosen: GLAL5 will be at Valparaíso (Chile). The leader of GLAL for the next biennium (2000-2001) will be the local lichenologist Dr. Wanda Quilhot. As the former leader of GLAL, I would like to thank all who have collaborated during the period 1998-1999. I thank also the lichenologists who attended GLAL4 and provided an opportunity to learn from their profound knowledge of lichens; as well as the young lichenologists who, with their enthusiasm, gave meaning to these events.

Susana Calvelo, Bariloche

Camillo Sbarbaro: Lichens (a translation)

The name of Camillo Sbarbaro (1888-1967) is known to several lichenologists. As an amateur, he assembled one of the most important Italian collections of the XX^th century. His intense correspondence with lichenologists such as B. de Lesdain, H. Magnusson, M. Servit and A. Vezda resulted in the description of 127 species from material collected by him, c. 20 of which bear his name. Sbarbaro, however, is best known in Italy as a writer and a poet, as one of the classic authors of Italian XX^th Century literature. His written thoughts on his herbarium and lichens, famous in Italy but unknown abroad, are in a very sophisticated Italian, and therefore difficult to translate. Alessandra Knowles (Trieste) has dared to attempt an English translation, which was slightly revised by D. & P. Hawksowrth (London), Mark Seaward (Bradford), and Cliff Smith (Honolulu). Here they are, with the hope that they will strike a chord in many of us whose science is stimulated by the beauty of our organisms.

The Editor

LICHENS

1. It clutters up my room and saturates it with the smell of undergrowth: it's a lichen herbarium. Assortments of wood splinters and chips of stone, providing almost a Sample book of the World. Because collecting plants is collecting places. There is nothing like a plant that springs from it to retain a site in the memory; being intrinsic to it, as that which reflects its nature and feels its every circumstance, it then replays the site back in the most tangible of ways. Carrying the voice of the torrent or the breath of the sea, the air of the city or that of the heights, it evokes in who collected it the hour and the season. Dried, it still holds tidings of how it was touched by the sun.

2. As a boy, called up to the master's desk to explain the Orobanche, I stood tiptoe to peep into the book the master held open in front of him, trying to work out whether I was expected to speak about roots or about legs. It is perhaps for this reason that, as soon as studying botany stopped being an obligation, I started a herbarium. My exclamatory encounter with the silver rays of Carlina opening tight to the ground, dates back to those years; so does that with the silk bow of Erioforo and with the Anagallis tenella "clinging to the clay with its tiny hands of leaves, jingling in its modest pink". Enchanting encounters. Of each plant I would take in the appearance, as a fossil in the stratum - which retains it for ever, does the trace of a leaf or an beetle's wing. With my loving inventory of a tiny part of the world, that with which I had most affinity, I was unconsciously satisfying my "supine love of things". Later, taken by my predilection for muted existences, I turned to more rejected forms of life. Specimens of moss I collected whilst on patrol on the Asolone, on the Lémerle and on the Assa, are now held at Falköping in Sweden and Berkeley in California. Until I reached lichens: a haven which had already been assured for me by a verse in my first booklet: "the golden wall-encrusting parmelia" (The "golden parmelia", on walls and barks, is the most obvious and festive amongst the lichens). Now, in my memory - where, placed in time, no more than two or three facts of the entire History of the World float - for lichens I hold, through physiognomy, an infinity of names and surnames. This happens to me with nothing else. With trees, for instance, it's already something if I can distinguish, by name, a magnolia from a pine. The thing is that a tree lives a life that is so much fuller and harmonious than our own, that giving it a name is to limit it; whilst greeting the inconspicuous and neglected lichens, calling them by name feels like helping them exist.

3. Lichens prosper from the regions of the clouds to those sprayed by the sea. They climb peaks where no other form of vegetation can take root. They are neither disheartened by deserts nor evicted by glaciers, nor the tropics or the polar circle. They defy the darkness of caverns and risk their lives in the mouths of volcanoes. Their only fear is the nearness of people. Because of this misanthropy, cities are the only barriers which stop them. If they dare to cross, they either go and look for air at the top of bell towers, or end up losing their health and their face. City lichens are sterile, gloomy and asphyxiated; human breath pollutes them. To find a recognisable lichen in Rome means climbing the cupola of St. Peter's.

4. Lichens make their home everywhere; yet, in choosing an abode, each species has its own preferences. Most lichens live on wood or stone. However, of the former, some may choose the olive tree, others the cypress and yet others the pine. Others with more fastidious tastes take up residence only on one particular kind of tree: the jujube or the elder. Even on the same tree, some live on the leaves, some on the bark, and others on the wood; among the latter there are those who select living wood and others that prefer it dried or even rotting. Some only live on charred wood. And there are lichens that live on picket fences, on beams, or telegraph poles; on culms, in hedges, in moss... The same goes for stone lichens. Some choose to live in limestone; others abhor it to the point of not being able to even tolerate its presence in the composition of the stone. Some have a preference for sandstone and pudding stone; others for gypsum or trachyte and basalt. For lichens can attack even the hardest of stones; using acids of their own making they crumble them and perforate them to shelter their seeds from the winds. There are, in the Alps, slabs riddled like sieves by the passing of a Verrucaria. Others live on bare soil. I have some, protected by cotton in little boxes, so delicate that the tiniest of jolts would turn them to dust: these were collected on the crags of Volterra and on the clays of Asciano. Others get by even on sand. There, without the slightest chance of them taking hold on something that is constantly shifting beneath them, tossed and turned by the winds and struck on all sides by the sun, they have learned to be self-sufficient. They fold over and curl up. They are the déracinés among lichens, lichens of no fixed abode, such as the Parmelia vagante of the Kirghiso steppes, the Aspicilia mangereccia of the deserts (bearing in its name the irreverence of science which sees it as the Manna from Heaven to feed the Chosen People). Those incapable of living as nomads, settle as they can on whatever in the sand offers them some kind of hold. On the dunes of Dunkerque I gathered some lodged on bone, on porcelain, on leather. There are also lichens that have a predilection for glass. I remember the alarming news in the papers of a patch threatening to destroy the stained-glass windows of Rheims cathedral. A lichen of the family of the perforators had chosen such a sumptuous lodging. No less demanding, another lichen has chosen the tomb of Cecilia Metella on the Via Appia as its home. And in Chile, there lives a clot of sulphur protruding in defence of the poised spear of the thorns of Opuntia which are its only habitat: it's the Chrysothrix or Golden Lock, called for this reason "touch me not". Finally, paying for the repulsion all its colleagues have for humankind, there is a Gyalecta, which - it hurts to say - is coprophilous. Other lichens, whatever their habitat, require water as their accomplice, or wind. And among the former there are those that need dripping water, others lake water, and some running water; some only get along with seawater.

5. Dimensionally, there are lichens like plaques - that a man's arms could not encircle; like yarns - that if unfolded would stretch for a kilometre; like trees - almost hip-high. And a multitude of tiny ones: lichens like commas, full-stops or asterisks. There are some so small that only a lens can reveal them.

6. Lichens are the most multiform of all plants. Koerber deluded himself into thinking he could regiment them all within three categories: crusty, leafy, and shrubby. Yet how many different meanings should each of these adjectives have to try and encompass the polymorphism of lichens! Many lichens form imbricated tile-like roofs; many others pavements made up of triangular, pentagonal, polygonal tiles; others Milky Ways or stellar systems; others, dangling from branches, form beards, horses' manes, Absalomic heads of hair. One whole tribe, the Graphideae, covers its support with indecipherable writing: lower and upper case letters, engraved or in relief; linear, forked, Chinese or cuneiform. Others, the Caliciaceae, barely visible to the naked eye, are revealed under a lens as lightning-stricken, apocalyptic landscapes where cobras, standing upright on their tails, give out smoke from their tripod-like heads. Lichens simulate artefacts of all sorts: encaustics, inlays, fretwork and mosaics; brocade and felt; goblets, clubs, needles and nails, clasps, helmets and shields; matches; ribbons, nets and flabella; stamped leather; velvet and lace. They seem to be made, entirely or in part, of the most disparate substances: starch and flour; wool and crimson, gold, sulphur and sealing wax; sponge, cork and anthracite, parchment, and gutta-percha. There are beehive lichens; labyrinthine or madrepore lichens; lichens like oysters or coral reefs; fern-like lichens, or even octopus-like lichens complete with suckers; spherical, trapezoidal, raspberry-like, or shaped as a bandits' trumpet. Encephalographa cerebrina, as the name suggests, resembles a miniature brain.

7. Lichens are the most polychromic of all plants. They cover the whole spectrum: from milk white to pitch black, drawing on the most vivid colours and ranging through all compositions of shades and hues to embrace the richest of colour repertoires. In order to avoid setting off gratuitous, albeit spectacular, pinwheels, I shall stick to that most restrained and righteous of colours: the absence of colours. After drawing a first distinction between its main stages: grey, swarthy, sombre, and pitch, again the first may be pearl grey, steel grey, lead grey, ash grey etc; and so on for each of the others; in order to assign the peculiar gradation to each, lichen nomenclature resorts to comparatives and superlatives, or diminutives such as fusculus, furvellus, nigritulus; to intensifiers such as tenebricosus or participles, such as nigricans, and fuscescens, to suggest the aspiration to a colour that is never actually reached; to adjectives, such as nigratus and obscuratus, to designate a tint that seems not to be peculiar to the lichen but rather superimposed on it... In its dislike for inaccuracy, lichen nomenclature behaves like Fashion when it refers to lime green or coral red: it implies in the name of the tint, or associates to it, a precise reference. Thus, to remain in the limbo of blacks, it distinguishes African black (maurus), Bat black (vespertilio), Raven black (coracinus), Smoke black (infumatus), Mourning black (pullatus), Roast black (torridus), Burned black (deustus), Anthracite black (anthracinus), Soot black (fuligineus), Pitch black (tenebricus), a black as Hell (stygius)... This gloominess of tints mortifies little more than one family: the Collemaceae. Most lichens display a variety of colours that range from the most vivid (vermilion, cochineal, flowing blood and clotted blood) to the most delicate half-tints such as caerulean, amethyst, orange, apricot, or crocus; or the least definable such as badium, gilvus, galbulus, carphinium... There is no lack of bi- and tricoloured lichens, variegated lichens, panther skin, Harlequin chequered, painter's palette; fulgent, flaring and even versicoloured lichens... Others, unpretentious at first sight, exibit a coloured margin, apothecium or hypothallus; or, grey on the outside, are snow-white, golden or cochineal on the inside. For some, a little humidity in the air is enough to brighten them up. Finally, even among the funereal moirés of the Collemaceae, there are those that gain vividness at the touch of a reagent; one such is Thyrea jodopulchra, the beautiful in iodine.

8. Lichens are an enigma. Saying they belong to the Vegetable Kingdom is having said all that is known for certain about them. Even using the word "entity" to describe them can be incautious given that some consider lichens nothing more that a phenomenon. From an empirical point of view, lichens are all those patches visible on stones and tree trunks that grow more frequently as one moves further away from the city borders. A first confirmation of this presumption comes from the patch turning green if scratched, but from there to certainty the road is long. So many of these forms of Life were first accepted as lichens, then pushed back into the throng of the algae and fungi, and later readmitted amongst the lichens, depending on the moment and on the observer!

9. An herbarium is a sample book of the world. A resource in hours of tedium. I open a packet at random. In each packet there is the world. When contemplating a place is not enough to appease my fondness for it, in the impossible illusion of becoming one with it, I have a fantasy, scientific in a way: an aerostat rather than wings to compensate for body weight and, with it, to become light, as we are told we would be in the atmosphere of the moon. Following my whims and fancies, I'd fly over that place, my hand grazing the olive grove as though the rumps of a flock; dive into a patch of green, let myself down where the water sings, and then shoot back to the surface and onto that crag to be intrigued by something white trembling on the precipice; coming and going, being here and there: plucking that place as if it were a bunch of grapes, and racing against a butterfly as it savours its field of flowers. With an herbarium this dream comes true - and not just for one place, but for the world! I open a packet at random: I am at San Cristobal, in the Galapagos; in India on the Palivi Hills; at four thousand feet on Mount Ndaza in China; among herds of reindeer on the banks of Lake Ladoga. I'm in Quintalito, on the Andean Cordillera in Chile; in sight of the Brenva at Portud; in Batavia, at the Botanical Garden; in an ancient barn at Antwerp; at the Isle of Dawson in Tierra del Fuego; at Archangel; at Rockland in Maine; at Zacualpan in Mexico: "Collected P.A. Purpus on a Yucca elephantipes...". And each plant I see and I touch, even the smallest of scraps, documents a point on the globe, it is part of that point. It was born there and there it comfortably grew. It is intrinsic to it, a token. What an excursion around the world it is to visit an herbarium! What leaps through space! Just now I was walking in the footsteps of the Gods on Mount Olympus in Greece, and here I am on the peak of the Amiata: and there's you, on an overcast autumn day, among towering chestnuts...

(Translation by A. Knowles. Courtesy of Edizioni del Pesce d'Oro, Milano)