Flora of New Zealand Series

Type : Polychidium muscicola (Sw.) Gray [=Lichen muscicola Sw.]

Descriptions : Flora (1985: 410). See also Coppins & James (1992: 486) and Ryan & Schultz (2002: 401–402).

Polychidium, a genus of four species (Henssen 1963d; Burgaz & Martínez 2001), is included in the family Massalongiaceae (Wedin et al. 2007) together with the genera Leptochidium M. Choisy and Massalongia Körb. (q.v.). In Polychidium s. str., the ascus apex is devoid of an amyloid ring-structure, and the anatomy of the thallus in Polychidium deviates from that of Santessoniella (Henssen 1997: 79). One species of Polychidium is recorded from New Zealand. Formerly thought to be an endemic taxon (Galloway 1985a: 411) it is now known also from British Columbia, Oregon and Tasmania.