Cladonia neozelandica Vain.
Holotype: New Zealand. Sine loco (prob. Wellington). Charles Knight, ex Herb. Arnold, (Herb. Vainio 17286), TUR 18603!
Primary squamules usually very persistent, 3-7 mm long and 0.5-1.5 mm wide, irregularly laciniate, flat or involute-subconvex, ascending, clustered to caespitose-crowded, upper surface olive or yellowish-glaucescent. Lower surface white, without soredia. Podetia growing from the upper surface of the primary squamules, 10-25 mm tall, 0.7-2.5 mm diam., subcylindrical, without cups, sterile or terminated with apothecia, irregularly branched, branches spreading, sides of podetia fissured, ± clathrate, ± decorticate exposing internal chondroid strands, somewhat wrinkled, axils entire or perforate, aggregated or anastomosing, often confluent, ascending, corticate. Cortex areolate or in parts verrucose, areolae minute, dispersed or subcontiguous, without soredia, ± squamulose, squamules small to medium, similar to primary type, interspaces corticate or decorticate, opaque, impellucid, pale yellowish or olivaceous or whitish-glaucescent. Apothecia small, 0.6-1.0 mm diam., often solitary, entire or lobate, perforate, subpeltate, convex, brown or pale yellowish-brown. Chemistry: Cortex K+ yellow → red, KC+ red, Pd+ orange. Atranorin, norstictic acid, zeorin and 2 unidentified compounds.
N: North Auckland (Kerr Point) to Wellington, throughout. S: Nelson to coastal eastern Otago. Primarily a lowland and coastal species colonising clay banks, Leptospermum scrub, or among tussocks in subalpine grassland.
Australasian
C. neozelandica is characterised by the abundant and often persistent primary squamules, the clathrate-fissured podetia and the presence of norstictic acid. It is similar to C. enantia but the thalli are larger and more irregular, the apothecia are pale yellow-brown, and the podetia are more obviously clathrate-fissured. The chemistry is different, (C. enantia has fumarprotocetraric, succinprotocetraric and protocetraric acids) and important in the delimitation of sterile thalli. In several earlier accounts this species is recorded as C. polycarpoides Nyl.
