Flora of New Zealand Series

≡Lichen scrobiculatus Scop., Fl. carniol. ed. 2, 2: 384 (1772).

≡Lobaria scrobiculata (Scop.) DC., in J.B. Lamarck & A.P. De Candolle, Fl. fr. ed. 3, 2: 402 (1805). [For details of typification see Yoshimura & Isoviita (1969).]

Description : Flora (1985: 260 – as Lobaria scrobiculata).

Chemistry : Cortex K−: Medulla K+ orange-red, C+ rose or −, Pd+ orange; containing constictic, norstictic, stictic and usnic acids, meta–scrobiculin and para–scrobiculin (Yoshimura & Isoviita 1969: 352; Yoshimura 1971: 304; Elix & Norfolk 1975; Elix & Gaul 1986; Huneck & Yoshimura 1996; Elix 2001a: 45).

N: Auckland (Rangitoto I.), South Auckland (Mangaotaki Valley King Country, Waiotapu Valley), Wellington (Tiritea Stream Palmerston North, Tararua Ra.) S: Nelson (Lake Rotoiti), Marlborough (Wairau Valley), Canterbury (Hanmer, Peel Forest), Otago (Makarora, Hindon, Lamb Hill, Waikouaiti Reservoir, Mt Trotter, Horse Ra., Boyd's Bush Dunedin, Beaumont, Tautuku Bay) to Southland (Forest Hill). Mainly in lowland to subalpine sites of high humidity. L. scrobiculata is moderately photophilous and will not tolerate deep shade. It is most commonly found in rather open, dryish situations very often associated with the shrubs Kunzea ericoides and Leptospermum scoparium when these are dominant components of the vegetation in successional habitats. It is moderately common on rocks and is also an epiphyte of Dacrycarpus dacrydioides, Griselinia littoralis, Metrosideros excelsa, Nothofagus menziesii and Phyllocladus asplenifolius var. alpinus. It commonly associates with species of Coccocarpia, Degelia, Erioderma, Fuscoderma, Hypotrachyna, Leioderma, Nephroma, Normandina, Pannaria, Parmelia, Parmeliella, Physma, Polychidium, Pseudocyphellaria, Psoroma, Sticta and Usnea. Known elsewhere from boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere (see above) where it is circumpolar, and from Australia (Elix 2001a; McCarthy 2003c, 2006).

Cosmopolitan – Bipolar

Illustrations : Brightman & Nicholson (1966: 167, fig. 6); Yoshimura & Isoviita (1969: 350, fig. 3); Yoshimura (1971: 303, fig. 23; 358, pl. 22A; 1974: pl. 37, fig. 363); Thomson (1984: 271); Wirth (1987: 273; 1995a: 24; 561); Claire Dalby in Richardson (1992: pl. 4, fig. 8); Goward et al. (1994b: 71, fig. 6A); Hansen (1995: 41); McCune & Geiser (1997: 154); Dobson (2000: 224; 2005: 256); Flora of Australia 58A (2001: xviii, pls 30, 31); Brodo et al. (2001: 421, pl. 478) – all as Lobaria scrobiculata).

Lobarina scrobiculata is characterised by: the corticolous thallus; the scrobiculate thallus (blue-green when wet, pale yellowish or yellow-green to buff when dry), the numerous soralia on the upper surface and at the margins, the acicular, 3-septate ascospores, and the presence of scrobiculin in the medulla.