Article

The OPTIMA Commission For Lichens is supporting an international project for a compilation of a generaI checklist of lichens of the Mediterranean region. This paper describes the history of the project and the present State of the Art, with some criticaI considerations about the delimitation 01' thc Mediterranean area for a lichen checklist, and a short outline of the main phytogeographic features of southern Europe, as far as lichens are concerned. It is slIggcsted that the national checklist prodllced in the framework of the project shollld become available on thc Internet, with a possibility of continuous updating by the international lichenological community.