Flora of New Zealand Series

≡Lichen fulgens Sw., Nova Acta Acad. upsal. 4: 246 (1784).

Description: Flora (1985: 170).

Chemistry : Thallus K+ purple; containing fragilin and caloploicin, and parietin in the apothecia (Gilbert 1978: 36).

N: Hawke's Bay (near Napier, Cape Kidnappers, Kahuranaki). S: Canterbury (Weka Pass, Motunau River, Castle Hill, Mt Somers), Otago (Hampden), Southland (Clifden). Growing among mosses on limestone and basic or limestone soils, but still poorly collected and understood in New Zealand. The earliest collections are those of William Colenso from Hawke's Bay, recorded by Babington (1855: 291) and by Hooker (1867: 577) as Placodium fulgens [2906 "yellow lichen (Lecanora?), crags hill Kahuraanake"; 3032 "Lichen, ground Cape Kidnappers"; 4754 "Lichen, cliffs at Moeangiangi" – WELT L1038, L1083, L1546 – the last named cited in Nylander (1888: 58 as Placodium bracteatum)]. A widespread Mediterranean species known also from Great Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, Morocco, Tunisia, Israel, Turkey, the Balkans, Ukraine, North America and Tasmania (Galun 1970; Gilbert 1978, 1992; Nimis 1993; Santesson 1993; Kantvilas 1994; Esslinger & Egan 1995; Egea 1996; Filson 1996; Galun & Mukhtar 1996; John 1996; Kondratyuk et al. 1996a, 1996b, 1998; Seaward 1996; Scholz 2000; Brodo et al. 2001; Hafellner & Türk 2001; Llimona & Hladun 2001; McCarthy 2003c, 2006; Nimis & Martellos 2003; Santesson et al. 2004; Kasalicky 2004).

Cosmopolitan

Illustrations : Gilbert (1978: 35, pl. 1A–C); Jahns (1980: 241, pl. 603); Moberg & Holmåsen (1982: 189); Wirth (1987: 195; 1995b: 397); Dobson (1992: 145; 2000: 159; 2005: 176); Westberg & Kärnefelt (1998: 518, fig. 1; 522, fig. 18; 525, fig. 33); Heibel et al. (1999: 250); Belnap et al. (2001a: 6, pl. 16); Sérusiaux et al. (2004: 83).

Fulgensia fulgens is characterised by: the terricolous (basicolous soils) habit; the placodioid–lobate thallus (1–3 cm diam.) with marginal lobes clearly differentiated; upper surface matt, yellow-orange to whitish, often strongly white-pruinose (×10 lens); schizidia (small scale-like structures that split off from the upper surface) often present; sessile apothecia with an orange-brown disc and persistent, raised, entire to verrucose margins, concolorous with thallus; and ellipsoidal ascospores, 10–14 × 2.5–5(–6) μm.