Flora of New Zealand Series

Type : Acrocordia gemmata (Ach.) A.Massal.

Description : Flora (1985:3). See also Purvis (1992a) and Aptroot (2002a: 89).

Acrocordia is a genus of mainly Northern Hemisphere temperate species of c. 10 named taxa (Kirk et al. 2001), included in the family Monoblastiaceae (Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005), together with the genera Anisomeridium (Müll.Arg.) M.Choisy (q.v.), Caprettia Bat. & H.Maiav.), and Monoblastia Riddle. Acrocordia is characterised by the cylindrical, bitunicate asci with an apparently unique apical structure, and uniseriate, 1-septate (rarely 3-septate), colourless, ellipsoidal ascospores with a warted epispore (best seen under oil immersion), dispersing in K (Coppins & James 1978). Comparison of Acrocordia with the genera Anisomeridium, Arthopyrenia, Pyrenocollema and Strigula is given in Coppins (1988: 306–307). One species is recorded in New Zealand, though it is still very poorly collected and understood here. The history of the genus is recorded in Swinscow (1970).