Chaenotheca hispidula (Ach.) Zahlbr.
*Account prepared by Dr L. Tibell (Uppsala).
Calicium trachelinum γ hispidula Ach., Lich. Univ.: 237 (1810).
Thallus immersed in substrate. Photobiont: Trentepohlia. Apothecia short, 0.5-1.0 mm high, 8-16 times as high as width of stalk. Stalk 0.05-0.08 mm diam., black in lower part and with a thick, yellowish-green pruina in upper part. Capitulum obconical to obovoid, with well-developed excipulum. Excipulum 0.14-0.26 mm diam. Hypothecium obconical with flat upper surface. Capitulum with a dense, yellowish-green or rarely reddish-brown pruina on lower side of excipulum. (When a reddish-brown pruina is present it yields violet-red feather-like or plate-like crystals in K.) Asci cylindrical, either without stalk and formed in chains or with a well-developed stalk and formed singly. Ascospores spherical, 5.0-7.6 µm diam., with an ornamentation formed of irregular, reticulate fissures surrounding small, polygonal areas. Chemistry: The yellow pruina of the apothecia contains vulpinic acid.
N: Wellington. S: Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago, Southland. C. hispidula seems to be rather rare and occurs mainly in South I. mainly on decorticated stumps of Nothofagus, more rarely on trunks. It is found in humid and shade situations, 150-900 m.
Cosmopolitan
C. hispidula is widely distributed in the Southern Boreal - Temperate Zones of the Northern Hemisphere.
