Flora of New Zealand Series

≡Calicium stemoneum Ach., K. Sv. Vet.-Akad. Handl. 1816: 278 (1816).

Descriptions : Flora (1985: 89); Tibell (1987: 109).

Chemistry : Thallus K−, C−, KC−, Pd+ yellow to reddish; containing two unidentified aromatic aldehydes (Tibell 1987).

N: Gisborne (Mt Honokawa) to Wellington (Tararua Ra.). S: Nelson (Pelorus Bridge) to Southland (Pourakino Valley). On lignum of kaikawaka (Libocedrus sp.), Podocarpus totara and beech trees (Nothofagus menziesii and N. solandri var. solandri), also on the bark of N. menziesii in shaded humid sites, 130–1280 m. A very widely distributed species in cool temperate to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere (Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, North America) and in the Southern Hemisphere in Australia and South America (Tibell 1999c: 38; McCarthy 2003c, 2006; Nimis & Martellos 2003; Tibell & Thor 2003; Hermansson & Pystina 2004; Titov et al. 2004).

Cosmopolitan

Exsiccati : Tibell (1982: No. 61).

Illustrations : Tibell (1987: 109, fig. 76; 1999c: 85).

Chaenotheca stemonea is characterised by: the very thin, farinose, Pd+ yellow to reddish thallus containing Stichococcus as photobiont; the pale hyphal web on the lower side of the exciple and the whitish to dull brown upper part of the stalk.