Flora of New Zealand Series

B. wellingtonii (Stirton) D. Galloway, N.Z.J. Bot. 21: 192 (1983).

Lecidea wellingtonii Stirton, J. Linn. Soc. Lond. Bot. 14: 469 (1875).

Bacidia spirospora Knight, T.N.Z.I. 12: 371 (1880).

B. melastegia Knight, T.N.Z.I. 12: 371 (1880).

B. spodoelaeina Knight, T.N.Z.I. 12: 373 (1880).

Lecidea deflexa Nyl., Lich. N.Z.: 100 (1888).

Lecotype: New Zealand. Near Wellington. J. Buchanan 1/74, GLAM!

B. spirospora. Lectotype: New Zealand. Sine loco (prob. Wellington). Charles Knight 6.10.77, WELT Herb. Knight Vol. 45A, p. 11!

B. melastegia. Holotype: New Zealand. Sine loco (prob. Wellington). Charles Knight 3.10.74 H, WELT Herb. Knight Vol. 47A, p. 8!

B. spodoelaeina. Lectotype: New Zealand. Sine loco (prob. Wellington). Dr C. Knight rec'd 11/83, BM!

Lecidea deflexa. Lectotype: New Zealand. Sine loco (prob. Wellington). C. Knight ex Herb. J.M. Crombie, BM! Annotated by Knight as "Bacidia spirospora Kn."

Thallus pale olive-greenish or yellowish to ± fawnish-yellowish, areolate-cracked, minutely wrinkled-plicate, uneven or in parts shallowly papillate, smooth, varnish-like in parts to minutely roughened, delimited by a faint black prothallus, in round to irregular patches, 1-3 cm diam. Apothecia conspicuous, scattered or 1-3-confluent, round to irregularly deformed through mutual pressure, 0.5-2.2 mm diam., sessile to subpedicellate, black, matt, smooth or minutely roughened, plane to convex, margins entire, thin, concolorous with disc or occasionally red-brown, slightly raised in young fruits, excluded at maturity. Epithecium granular, blue-black, 4-13 µm thick. Hymenium colourless, 80-120 µm tall. Hypothecium massive, yellow-brown. Ascospores 10-15(-18)-septate, (50-)60-90 × (2-)3-4 µm, spirally curved.

N: Wellington. S: Canterbury. Probably widely distributed. On bark of trees and shrubs in shaded, undisturbed habitats, lowland.

Endemic