Flora of New Zealand Series

Thallus verrucose to almost immersed, verrucose-granular, pale straw yellow to almost white. Apothecia with a thick, often areolate pruina on lower side of capitulum. In some specimens, however, only some of the apothecia are pruinose. Apothecia 0.9-1.4 mm high, 6-10 times as high as width of stalk. All parts of the apothecium I-. Capitulum lenticular, 0.35-0.52 mm diam. Excipulum formed by ± isodiametric, heavily sclerotized cells. Hypothecium dark brown, with flat upper surface. Stalk 0.13-0.16 mm diam., shining, black, epruinose. In section the stalk is dark brown to dark aeruginose, consisting of periclinally arranged, ± branched hyphae with thickened, sclerotized walls. Outermost stalk layer gelatinous, I-. Asci cylindrical with uniseriate spores, 39-50 × 4.5-5.5 µm. Ascospores ellipsoid, 11-15 × 6-7 µm with minutely-coarsely areolate ornamentation. Chemistry: Thallus containing thiophanic acid and arthothelin. Thallus K+ dull yellow, C+ orange, KC+ orange to red, Pd-, UV+ dark orange. The pruina of the apothecia is Pd+ orange, but has not been identified.

N: South Auckland, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Wellington. S: Nelson, Canterbury, Otago, Southland. Rather common on decorticated stumps of old trees in not too dark but rather humid situations, 40-1100 m. Occurring at low elevations in Otago and Southland but further north mainly found between 400 and 1100 m.

Australasian