Flora of New Zealand Series

Lichen flavicans Sw., Nov. gen. sp. pl.: 147 (1788).

Thallus fruticose, richly branched, forming loose, entangled clumps 4-10 cm diam., corticolous. Branches terete or slightly angled, matt or minutely tomentose, pale yellow to orange-red, ± dichotomously branching, nodes 1-5 mm apart, with scattered 1 mm long, black-tipped fibrils and a few pale sorediate patches. Apothecia not seen.

N: Three Kings Is to Auckland, probably present on most northern offshore island groups. S: Nelson (Puponga - recently discovered by J.K. Bartlett, December 1982). A visually conspicuous epiphyte of Leptospermum and Metrosideros excelsa in northern coastal forest, rarely on coastal rocks.

Cosmopolitan