Today the image archive of ITALIC has reached 12,000 speciels of lichens - Link: italic.units.it/index.php?pr…

THE MAKERS OF LICHENOLOGY - Biographies of 611 lichenologists, already inserted in an online database. You can now add further biographies, or propose amendments to the existing ones. Link to the paper: herbmedit.org/issues/6f802e9… Link to the database: italic.units.it/index.php?pr…

Published today: 33 taxa new to Italy, 255 new to at least one Region. Here a gallery with some of the new entries for the country. Link: mycokeys.pensoft.net/article…

Today we have published online an updated version of the Portal to the Flora of Italy Link: dryades.units.it/floritaly/

Today the image archive of ITALIC has reached 10.000 species. Most images are released under a Creative Commons Licence, so you can re-use them for your projects. Thanks to everyone who collaborated! Link: italic.units.it/index.php?pr…

Several species of Lecanora were segregated into the genera Straminella and Zeora in an important paper published a few days ago. Nomenclatural changes are now in ITALIC, incl. the keys. Link: cambridge.org/core/journals/…

Today the key to (potentially) Italian lichens has reached 3500 taxa. In the last years I was revising all keys alphabetically. Now I am at Verrucaria, a horror, but also the last mountain to climb. Link: dryades.units.it/home/index.…

Usnea-workshop in Bologna, with Philippe Clerc – February 16-18 2026. Info: [email protected] or [email protected]

Filling the gaps... Link to the paper: italianbotanist.pensoft.net/…

Lichen biomonitoring in Europe...just published! Link: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/…

URBAN FLOR@ - Glad to see that my old keys to plants were still useful for deriving updated keys to the urban floras of Italian cities: Empoli, Gorizia, Milano, Palermo, Pisa, Roma, Trieste…and others will follow! Apple: apps.apple.com/be/app/urban-… Android: play.google.com/store/apps/d…

The free app KEYtoNATURE is alive again. It permits to download on mobiles dichotomous keys by Project Dryades (Univ. of Trieste). Once downloaded, the keys can be used offline (e.g. in the field without internet). Apple: apps.apple.com/it/app/keyton… Android: play.google.com/store/apps/d…

Just published: an important paper on the Catillariaceae, with nomenclatural changes in Catillaria, Halecania and Solenopsora (already implemented in ITALIC): Link to the article: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/…

IAL10 TRIESTE – TRAVEL GRANTS DEADLINE 30.11.2025 About 40 travel grants (500 to 2000 Euros) for young lichenologists coming to the IAL10 Congress in Trieste are available. Application deadline (abstract mandatory) is November, 30, 2025. Info here: ial10.units.it/?page_id=8713

PORTAL TO THE FLORA OF ITALY UPDATED – Version 2025.1 of the Portal - which is updated every 6 months - is now online, incorporating the latest nomenclatural and distributional novelties. Link: dryades.units.it/floritaly/

Today they asked me for a photo of myself. I don't like selfies and had little to choose from. Perhaps the photo I like best is this one, from the Carnic Alps, while showing all plants growing in a square meter to my students (I miss them!)

Rome, October 21: Celebrating the legacy of Sandro Pignatti (1930-2025)

Glad to see that data from ITALIC can be useful, less glad for the conclusions: "A dramatic reduction in habitat suitability of lichen biota is expected, with double amounts of loss under the high emissions than the mitigation scenario"... Link: dx.doi.org/10.1111/ddi.70079

Lichens of the Dolomites, just published Link to the article: mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/jo…

Published a few minutes ago: happy to see order in the chaos! Changes already implemented in ITALIC. Link to the article: mycokeys.pensoft.net/article…