Abstract

Elemental Analysis of Parmotrema Grayanum (Hue.) Hale and Parmotrema Praesorediosum (Nyl.) Hale

Author(s): M. N. Vivek, Yashoda Kambar, K. A. Ramesh Kumar and T. R. Prashith Kekuda

The present study was undertaken to determine the content of major and minor elements in two foliose macrolichensof the genus Parmotrema viz., P. grayanum (Hue.) Hale and P. praesorediosum (Nyl.) Hale of Western Ghats of Karnataka, India. Elemental determination was done using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). The content of calcium and potassium was highest in P. grayanum and P. praesorediosum, respectively among major elements while the content of sodium was least in both lichens. The content of iron and nickel was highest and least among minor elements in both the lichens. These lichens can be used as source of important elements.