Flora of New Zealand Series

Parmelia cristifera Taylor, Hook. Lond. J. Bot. 6: 165 (1847).

Thallus orbicular to spreading, large, 10-25 cm diam., loosely attached, corticolous and saxicolous. Lobes broad, rounded 12-20 mm wide, margins sinuous, sorediate, ± involute, marginal cilia absent. Upper surface pale greenish-grey or greyish-white, smooth, matt, minutely maculate (×10 lens), becoming irregularly cracked with age. Soralia linear, soredia fine, farinose, white. Lower surface black with a broad, brown, naked marginal zone. Rhizines sparse, black, simple. Apothecia not seen. Chemistry: Cortex K+ yellow; medulla K+ yellow → red, C-, KC+ red, Pd+ orange. Salazinic acid and atranorin.

N: North Auckland (Whangarei) to Wellington (Hutt Valley). S: Marlborough, Canterbury (Amberley Beach and Kelseys Bush, Waimate), Otago (Oamaru, Saddle Hill, Black Head, Dunedin). Most common north of Lake Taupo in coastal habitats but also reaching considerable size in northern forests on Nothofagus and Agathis.

Pantropical

P. cristiferum is a large, greyish-white lichen, characterised by abundant, linear, rather sinuous marginal soralia, an absence of marginal cilia and the presence of salazinic acid in the medulla. It resembles P. perlatum and P. reticulatum, all three being sympatric in some habitats. The two latter species however have prominent and numerous marginal cilia, and soralia which are often capitate-hooded or revolute and rarely linear-sinuous. P. perlatum also has a different chemistry. P. reticulatum is distinctly reticulate-cracked and not merely maculate as in P. cristiferum.