Psoroma hirsutulum Nyl. ex Cromb.
Thallus minute, granular or hairy, greyish, amorphous, often disappearing, without any prothallus, squamules small, 0.5-1.0 mm diam., flattened-lobulate, glaucous grey, covered in long white, silky hairs, not often seen. Cephalodia not seen. Apothecia prominent, 1-2 mm diam., round, scattered, ± deeply cupuliform, disc red-brown, matt, smooth, continuous, not pruinose, without etching, fissures, or thalline lobules, margins crenate, thick, pale buff or greyish, densely covered with long, silky, white hairs. Ascospores 16-21 × 9-14 µm.
S: Nelson to Fiordland west of the Main Divide, and eastwards on foothill ranges of Canterbury and Otago, reaching the coast at The Nuggets (S. Otago). St: (Glory Cove). A characteristic grassland species growing on dead tussock bases or over decumbent vegetation, s.l. (in the far south) to 2000 m.
Austral
It is related to P. hispidulum, a South American species which is, however, lobulate: squamulose with short hairs over the whole thallus. P. hypnorum is also similar but has a granular-squamulose thallus, more massive thalline exciple and fewer and shorter apothecial hairs; also, it is found on soil or among mosses on soil in alpine and subalpine environments, rarely on tussock bases.
