Flora of New Zealand Series

=Ramalina arabum, auct. non (Dill ex Ach.) Meyen & Flot. [ Nova Acta Acad. Lepold-Carolin. 19 Suppl.: 212 (1843)].

Holotype: New Zealand. Northland, Cavalli Is, Hamaruru I., on maritime rocks, 1.i.1979, B.W. & G.C. Hayward s.n. – AK 161638.

Description : Thallus saxicolous, rarely corticolous, grey-green to yellow-green, suberect to pendulous, 3–12(–20) cm long, sparsely to densely branched; branching mainly dichotomous, often with narrow lateral branches, usually more densely branched at base where the holdfast can produce several branches. Holdfast delimited. Branches 1–2 mm diam., basal branches rigid, angular-terete to slightly flattened, apical branches twisted and somewhat nodular, attenuate with fine apices that often break, leaving a blunt tip. Surface matt, linear pseudocyphellae (×10 lens) always present, giving a striate or striate-nervose appearance to branches. Soralia absent. Outer cortex indistinct or absent, chondroid strands present in medulla. Apothecia rare, sessile, lateral, plane to convex, disc 0.5–2 mm diam., margins thin, entire. Ascospores ellipsoidal, straight or occasionally slightly curved, 11.5–17(–20) × 5–8 μm.

Chemistry : Medulla K+ yellow→red, C−; containing usnic (major), norstictic (major) and ±connorstictic (minor) acids.

N: Northland (Three Kings Is, Cavalii Is, Poor Knights Is, Great Barrier I., Rakitu I., Whangarei) to Auckland (Rangitoto I.). South Auckland (Coromandel Peninsula to Slipper I.) [map in Bannister at al. (2004: 126, fig. 3)]. On isolated rock stacks, cliff faces and boulders usually within a few metres of high tide mark, rarely on Metrosideros excelsa and coastal scrub. Occasional to common on mangroves (Avicennia marina var. resinifera) in estuarine habitats in Northland. Known also from Lord Howe I and Norfolk I. (Blanchon & Bannister 2002; McCarthy 2003c, 2006).

Australasian

Illustrations : Blanchon et al. (1996a: 59, fig. 4F; 66, fig. 6B; 82, fig. 8B, C – as Ramalina arabum); Blanchon & Bannister (2002: 19, fig. 1).

Ramalina meridionalis is characterised by: the saxicolous habit; the long pendulous thallus (3–12–20 cm); mainly dichotomous branching that is more dense basally; linear pseudocyphellae; chondroid strands in the medulla; and norstictic acid (K+ yellow→red).