The Collection

The Montana Lichen Collection includes over 2,500 lichens from throughout the northwestern United States and beyond. Notable collectors such as Dale Anderson, Ann DeBolt, Roger Rosentreter, Bruce McCune, and Andrea Pipp have contributed specimens to MONTU. In 2022, local lichenologist Tim Wheeler annotated the whole collection in an effort to get specimens taxonomically updated. The lichen collection has yet to be digitized, however, you can go onto the Consortium of Lichen Herbaria database to look up collections from around the world and what species exist in our region. The Lichen flora of Montana is especially unique, new species being found often. In 2002, Bruce McCune for the first time collected the species Henrica americana, which was previously only known to exist within cliffs in Europe. For any inquiries about the lichen collection please reach out to the Curator, Giovanna Bishop. Giovanna worked with lichens during her master's work in Eastern Washington and is available to help with identifications and any questions about lichens. 

Here is a link to the Consortium of Lichen Herbaria 

To learn more about the lichen flora of Montana see these publications: 

1. Lichens of the Swan Valley, Montana By: Bruce McCune 

The Bryologist, Vol. 85, No. 1 (Spring, 1982), pp. 13-21 (9 pages) 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3243137 https://doi.org/10.2307/3243137 

2. Lichens with Oceanic Affinities in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana and Idaho By: Bruce McCune 

The Bryologist, Vol. 87, No. 1 (Spring, 1984), pp. 44-50 (7 pages) 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3242881 https://doi.org/10.2307/3242881 

3. The Trade-off between Species Capture and Quantitative Accuracy in Ecological Inventory of Lichens and Bryophytes in Forests in Montana By: Bruce McCune, Peter Lesica 

The Bryologist, Vol. 95, No. 3 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 296-304 (9 pages) 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3243488 https://doi.org/10.2307/3243488