Flora of New Zealand Series

Lichen frigidus Sw., Meth. Musc.: 36 (1781).

Thallus white, tinged creamish or pinkish, effuse, 0.5-2 mm thick, papillate, granular or subspinulose, muscicolous, terricolous or lignicolous. Apothecia 1-3 mm diam., sessile, disc rose, ± flat, smooth, thalline margin smooth. Ascospores 8 per ascus, 35-45 × 15-20 µm. Chemistry: Cortex K-, C+ rose, KC+ red. Pd-. Gyrophoric acid.

S: Nelson (St Arnaud Ra.), Canterbury (Godley Valley), Otago (Humboldt Mountains). St: (Mt Anglem). An alpine or subalpine species often on decaying litter in association with Lecanora broccha, Cetraria islandica subsp. antarctica, Coelocaulon aculeatum and Alectoria nigricans. It is widely distributed in the Antarctic, and is probably more widely distributed in New Zealand in alpine areas east of the Main Divide. It is rarely fertile in New Zealand and is most commonly collected as a mass of whitish, globose papillae or warts on soil or moss.

Cosmopolitan