Abstract: | Identification of more than 4,000 specimens collected from China yielded 92 species of the lichen genus Cladonia.The author divided these species into 8 geographical elements,i.e.Cosmopolitan element (19species, 21%), Circumpolar element (32,35%), Pantropical element (8,9%), Eurasian element (5,5%), East Asian-North American element (7,8%), East Asian element (13,14%), Sino-Himalayan element (1,1%), and Species Endemic to China (7, 7%).Discussions on the formation of the main geographical elements except cosmopolitan one of Cladonia spp.from China are given in this paper.The species Cladonia yunnana, endemic to East Asia,and C.transcendens,endemic to North America,as a pair of vicarious species are proposed. The four species (C.beaumontii, C. cylmdrica,C. mateocyatha and C.macroptera) as East Asian-North American disjunctions are suggested,and the Qinling Mountains as the northern distribution limit of the Sino-Himalayan species C.delavayi and the Eurasian species C.corymbescens is indicated as well. |