Flora of New Zealand Series

≡Conferva ebenea Dillwyn, Brit. Conferv.: tab.101, 1809.

=Cystocoleus niger  auct. 

Description : Flora (1985: 149 – as Cystocoleus niger).

S: Nelson (St Arnaud Ra.) to Otago (Central Otago mountains). St: (Mt Anglem). Mainly alpine or subalpine on both acidic and calcareous rocks, often occurring together with species of Placopsis and Trentepohlia. Its black colour and fine texture render it very inconspicuous and it is often overlooked. Known from Great Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, North America, Chile, Argentina, Australia, South Georgia, Bouvetøya, South Sandwich Is, South Orkney Is, South Shetland Is, and the Antarctic Peninsula (Lindsay 1971a, 1974; Nimis 1993; Santesson 1993; Goward 1999; Øvstedal & Lewis Smith 2001; Kantvilas 2002b; McCarthy 2003c, 2006; Messuti et al. 2003a; Nimis & Martellos 2003; Santesson et al. 2004).

Bipolar

Illustrations : Wirth (1987: 180; 1995a: 288, pl. 37A; 1995b: 368); Purvis et al. (1992: 229, fig. 13A); Dobson (1992: 131; 2000: 145; 2005: 159); Goward (1999: 166, fig. 4A); Kantvilas (2002b: 67, fig. 1B); Sérusiaux et al. (2004: 74, 75).

Cystocoleus ebeneus is characterised by: a small, spreading, mat-like, black thallus comprised of filaments of Trentepohlia enclosed by contorted, branched hyphae, the cells short and barrel-shaped with strongly thickened walls. It is identified microscopically, and differs from Racodium rupestre (q.v.) in the contorted fungal hyphae.