Lichens from Har Meron (Jebel Jermak), Upper Galilee

Abstract

Twenty species, collected for the first time from Har Meron in Israel, are reported and their worldwide distribution recorded. Insofar as they were determined, the lichen acids of these species are indicated and the crystals used for their identification illustrated. Har Meron (Jebel Jermak3) presents a challenge because no previous lichen collections from this mountain and its environs have been reported, and to our knowledge no lichenological research there has ever been made before. Har Meron differs physiographically from any other region in Israel. It is located about seven kilometers west of the city of Safad, and covers an area of approximately six square kilometers. Har Meron forms the peak of the mountain belt that extends from the southern foot of Mt. Lebanon to the desert of the Sinai Peninsula. It is composed of three summits the northern (1,208 m), the western (1,104 m), and the eastern (1,151 m) -which are about 1.6 kilometers apart. While the western slope is gentle, the northern and eastern ones are more abrupt. The climate is biseasonal, with winter precipitations only (mainly rain, occasionally snow). The total precipitation is the highest in Israel (annual average over 1,200 mm) and the temperature is the lowest (averages: annual 120C, max. July 190C, min. January 60C). The area discussed is notable by its rich flora (Zohary 1962). It comprises a mixture of deciduous species and evergreens, with Quercus calliprinos and Pistacia palaestina as the dominant representatives of the association. These are accompanied by other Mediterranean trees and shrubs such as Laurus nobilis, Phillyrea media, Rhamnus palaestina, Crataegus azarolus, and Cercis siliquastrum. Several other trees Quercus boissieri, Acer syriacus, Pyrus syriaca, Prunus ursina, Juniperus oxycedrus, and Sorbus trilobata are confined to this area and find here their southernmost limit of distribution. This Mediterranean part of the country affords a more suitable habitat for fruticose and foliose lichens than the rest of the country. In the following, the general distribution of each species mentioned is summarized, as far as the literature supplies such information. This reveals that many of the species collected from Har Meron 1 Grateful acknowledgement is made to the Israel National Academy of Science for a grant in support of this work. We thank Professor J. Poelt for his help in the determination of Lecanora muralis and L. radiosa var. subcircinata and Mr. A. Shub for the photographs of Figures 1-5. 2 Department of Botany, Tel-Aviv University, 155 Herzl Street, TelAviv, Israel. 8 Jebel Jermak is the Arabic name of this mountain; it is sometimes spelled Jebel Jannrmaq. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.114 on Thu, 26 May 2016 06:03:06 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 19661 GALUN & LAVEE: LICHENS FROM GALILEE 325 find their equivalents in various mountainous regions of the Mediterranean area while others have a wider range. Several of the species are limited in Israel to the summit of Har Meron; others are less specific. The number of species reported in this paper represents only a partial picture of the lichen flora of Har Meron. It should, therefore, be considered only a preliminary report upon the little explored lichen flora of that area. The formulae for the solutions used in the microcrystal tests and referred to in the captions for the illustrations of the crystals are the standard ones given by Asahina and Shibata (1954). The collections are deposited in the herbarium of Tel-Aviv University. ANAPTYCHIA CILIARIS (L.) Kjrb. in Mass., Mem. Lichenogr. 35. 1853. Lichen ciliaris L., Spec. Plant. 2: 1144. 1753. Collections: Common on trunks and branches of Quercus calliprinos, Pistacia palaestina, and Rhamnus palaestina. Reactions: K-, C-, PD-. Constituents demonstrated: None. Anaptychia ciliaris is apparently restricted to Europe, and is among the most common lichens in northern Europe (Kurokawa 1962).