Flora of New Zealand Lichens is the first volume in a series concered with cryptograms. Lichens, or lichenized dungi, are fungi which have evolved a specialized mode of nutrition, viz., symbiosis with a photosyntehtic partner (either green alga, or cyanobacterium). Lichens are primary colonisers in plant succession and are found, in New Zealand, in a wide variety of habitats from sea level to the summit rocks of mt cook.