Effects of Culture Conditions on the Growth of Usneaceae Lichen Tissue Cultures

Conditions influencing the in vitro growth of tissues from Usneaceae(sens, lat.) species were investigated. Thallus segments ofall species except the alpine lichen grew at 20?C on malt-yeastextract agar medium in the dark. Tissues of the subtropicallichen grew at 29?C, but those of other species did not. CulturedU. longissima tissues grew rapidly to about 13 times the initialweight in 12 weeks of culture on Lilly-Barnett medium containing2% mannitol. D-Asparagine promoted the growth of cultured lichentissues, as did the corresponding L-amino acid. Cultured tissuesderived from different lichen species used different sugarsand amino acids. Addition of vitamins, phytohormones, and nucleicacid derivatives did not accelerate growth (Received February 9, 1987; Accepted August 26, 1987)