Offers an introduction to tropical lichens. The title modestly refers to the Seychelles only, but in fact species from La Reunion, Philippines, Cambodia and Thailand have also been illustrated and dealt with for the first time. The book treats virtually all lichen genera and species known to date from the Seychelles. Many coastal lowland lichens are rather widespread, so the book contains a large subset of species that can be found elsewhere in the tropics.
Not surprisingly, the book becomes less useful when further away from the Seychelles, but still has some use in Asia and even in the neotropics. Outside the Seychelles, it is more likely to be useful for crustose species than for foliose and fruticose species - the Cladonia and Parmeliaceae flora of Madagascar contains many species not mentioned here. Not all genera and species are illustrated, but those that are have been illustrated in full detail. No keys to the genera are included, as they rarely lead to succesful identifications. The best way to identify a species is to compare illustrations and read the genus entry, which will generally give the differences with similar genera, also those not known from the Seychelles.