Flora of New Zealand Series

Description : Thallus crustose, verrucose to verruculose, yellowish grey to greenish grey, epruinose, without soredia. Prothallus blackish brown or absent. Apothecia sessile, 0.4–1.0 mm diam., discs orange-brown to pale red-brown, epruinose. Margins concolorous with thallus, thin, smooth, entire. Cortex hyaline, indistinct, inspersed with small crystals, 10–20 μm thick. Amphithecium with large crystals not dissolving in K (pulicaris -type). Parathecium hyaline, with crystals, 15 μm thick. Epithecium reddish brown, colour, dissolving in K, with crystals, 10–15 μm thick. Subhymenium hyaline. Paraphyses slightly thickened apically. Ascospores ellipsoidal to broadly ellipsoidal, 9.5–12.5 × 5.5–7.5 μm.

Chemistry : Major compounds: psoromic and usnic acids; Minor compounds: atranorin, chloroatranorin, 2'- O -demethylpsoromic acid and unidentified triterpenoids (Lumbsch et al. 1995: 573).

N: Northland (Whangarei, Waiwera), Auckland (Rangitoto I.). S: Canterbury (Mt Palm, Lowry Peaks Ra., Arundel). On bark of coastal trees and shrubs, especially mangrove (Avicenia marina), and inland in South I., on Cytisus. Still rather poorly collected in New Zealand (Galloway et al. 2001a: 34). Also in NE and Western Australia (Lumbsch et al. 1995; McCarthy 2003c, 2006; Lumbsch & Elix 2004).

Australasian

Illustrations : Lumbsch et al. (1995: 575, figs 19, 20).

Lecanora queenslandica is characterised by: the corticolous habit; and the presence of psoromic acid (K+ yellow). Lecanora chlarotera is morphologically somewhat similar, but differs in containing gangaleoidin and in lacking usnic acid, in spore size and in other characters – it does not occur in New Zealand (Lumbsch 1994).