Flora of New Zealand Series

≡Lichen luteus Dicks, Fasc. pl. cryptog. brit. 1: 11 (1785).

≡Dimerella lutea (Dicks.) Trev., Ric. Ist. Lomb. Sci. Lett. 13: 65 (1880).

=Lecidea planella Nyl., Bull. Soc. linn. Normandie sér.2, 2: 84 (1868).

=Baeomyces pertenuis Stirt., Ann. Rept Trans. Glasgow Soc. Field Nat. 1: 17 (1873). Trans. N. Z. Inst. 6: 235 (1874).

=Lecidea familiaris Nyl., Lich. Nov. Zel.: 83 (1888).

=Biatorinopsis pallidula Müll.Arg., Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belg. 31 (2): 34 (1892).

=Catillaria perpulchra Zahlbr., Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. Wien math.-naturwiss. Kl. 104: 313 (1941).

Baeomyces pertenuis. Holotype: New Zealand. Wellington, on a tree fern, xii.1871, J. Buchanan B44 – GLAM. Isotypes – BM, WELT.

Lecidea familiaris. Holotype: New Zealand. Sine loco [probably Wellington], 1867, Charles Knight 307 – H-NYL 20460.

Biatorinopsis pallidula. Lectotype: New Zealand. Sine loco [probably Wellington], Charles Knight – G [fide Galloway (1985a: 159)].

Catillaria perpulchra. Holotype: New Zealand. Otago, saddle between Leith Valley and Waitati near Dunedin, in forest remnant on Hemitelia smithii [=Cyathea smithii], J.S. Thomson T2167 [A92] – W. Isotypes – CHR, OTA 029473.

Description : Flora (1985: 159 – as Dimerella lutea).

N: Northland (Te Huka, Karikari Mangonui, Waipoua Forest, Taranga I., Little Barrier I., Great Barrier I., Mt Auckland), Auckland (Huapai, Waitakere Ra., Piha), South Auckland (Clevedon, Mt William) to Wellington. S: Nelson (Lake Rotoiti), Marlborough (d'Urville I.) to Southland. St: Throughout, very widespread in damp, humid, low-light habitats on bark or twigs or overgrowing bryophytes. It is especially characteristic of the root mass of tree ferns. Known also from Great Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, North and South America, South Africa and Australia (Kantvilas 1990c; Purvis et al. 1992; Nimis 1993; Santesson 1993; Alvarez Andrés & Carballal Durán 2001; Lücking et al. 2003; McCarthy 2003c, 2006; Farkas 2004).

Cosmopolitan

Illustrations : Lindsay (1866b: pl. LXIII, fig. 6 – as Lecidea pineti Ach.); Knight (1875a: pl. XXIII, fig. 12 – as Lecidea planella); Dobson (1979: 89; 1992: 146; 2000: 149); Jahns (1980: 247, pl. 630); Wirth (1995: 376); Thor & Arvidsson (1999: 262); Brodo et al. (2001: 302, pl. 310); Lücking et al. (2003: 28, fig. 5F).

Coenogonium luteum is characterised by: the corticolous habit; the yellowish-green to dark olive-green, continuous thallus (on bark or often overgrowing bryophytes or tree-fern brush); the scattered, bright orange-yellow apothecia (2–4 mm diam.) with paler and often flexuose margins; a hymenium 65–70 μm tall; and fusiform-ellipsoidal ascospores, 6–12(–14) × 2–4 μm.