Flora of New Zealand Series

Thallus dwarf-fruticose, coralline to powdery, densely branched, with anchoring rhizines. Photobiont blue-green, Stigonema or Hyphomorpha. Branches terete, ± completely interwoven or overlapping. Apothecia terminal, small, lecideine, convex at first, without defined margin, black or brown. Ascospores 8 per ascus, colourless, oval, narrow, thin-walled, 1-2-celled.

Spilonema is a cosmopolitan genus of 4 species, one of which occurs in New Zealand. They are small, black, felted or coralline lichens found on rocks or amongst mosses in damp places and very easily overlooked. It is still very poorly known in New Zealand and the South Pacific. It is included in the family Coccocarpiaceae [Henssen Symb. bot. upsal. 18: 93-98 (1963)], being allied to Coccocarpia through a similar ontogenetic development of the fruits.