Author: Dr. Sareh Sadat Kazemi, Expert researcher, Botany Research Division, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Tehran, Iran.
This investigation was undertaken in the Cheshmeh Bolbol Protective Forest of the Liwan-Banafsheh Hill Forestry Project in the Natural Resources Department of Bandar-e-Gaz, Golestan Province. The Cheshmeh Bolbol boxwood Forest Reserve is the easternmost habitat of Hyrcanian boxwood and one of the few populations that are less sensitive to boxwood leaf scorch and boxwood moth infestation. It is a good substrate for a unique ecology of boxwood forests in the eastern Hyrcanian region and has an advantageous position. In recent decades, inappropriate boxwood exploitation has led to the emergence of a fungal disease that causes boxwood leaf scorch. More significantly, the boxwood moth pest infestation has destroyed 80 to 90 percent of vast portions of these forests.
More than 40,000 hectares of boxwood forests in northern Iran, almost all of them, have been affected by this pest, following this damage to the Hyrcanian boxwood forest, it has also had a negative impact on the lichen flora of this region. Since just 450 hectares of boxwood forests in Golestan Province have not sustained significant damage, we are able to take a closer look at their foliicolous lichen flora. The most important Trees and Shrubs species in these forests are Buxus sempervirens, Parrotia persica, Quercus castaneifolia, Acer cappadocicum, Zelkova carpinifolia and Danae racemosa. So far, only one species of foliicolous lichen has been reported from Iran.
Therefore, in this study, a new lichen species, Phylloblastia iranica S. Kazemi, Lücking & Sipman, from the Hyrcanian boxwood forests (Golestan Province) has been reported to the world for the first time from Iran.
Reference:
Kazemi S.S., Sipman H.J.M., Lücking R. 2024: Phylloblastia iranica sp. nov. and a new record for the lichen biota of Iran, with a global key for Phylloblastia species. The Lichenologist. 56(6):363-369. doi:10.1017/S0024282924000379
