Cladonia glebosa
Description : Basal squamules persistent or soon disappearing, 1–5 mm long, 1–3 mm wide, sorediate or lobulate along margins, involute, entire to incised. Podetia narrowly cup-forming, 1–2 mm wide and to 5.5 cm tall, corticate towards base, sorediate above, soredia granular, enlarging and developing into squamules, sometimes squamules slough off exposing white to brownish hyphae, cups narrow barely exceeding width of supporting podetium, corticate or sorediate inside, margins with abundant, crowded, glebose, pale-brown bundles of meristematic tissue, bundles enlarging outwards and resembling pouting lips, sometimes producing pycnidia, sometimes producing proliferations that are elongate, subulate to acicular or with several tiers of proliferations that are terete to dramatically flattened, sorediate or corticate. Apothecia brown, solitary or in clusters on cup margins or on tips of proliferations.
Chemistry : Medulla K−, Pd+ orange→red; containing fumarprotocetraric acid.
N: Gisborne (Parekiri Ridge Urewera), Wellington (National Park, Otaki River Tararua Ra.) S: Nelson (Lake Rotoiti), Westland (Runanga, Greymouth, Kumara, Lake Moana), Canterbury (Huxley R., Lake Ohau), Otago (Haast Pass, Hunter Valley Lake Hawea, Maungatua, Taieri Mouth), Southland (Doubtful Sound, Cascade Cove Dusky Sound, Cascade Creek, Lake Hauroko, Forest Hill, Awarua Bay, Greenhills). Ch: C: (Tucker Cove). On peat. Known also from Western Australia and in Eastern Australia from Queensland to Victoria (Hammer 2002: 570; McCarthy 2003c, 2006).
Australasian
Illustrations : Hammer (2002: 570, figs 28–31).
Cladonia glebosa is characterised by: tallish, mainly simple podetia topped with conspicuous convex brown apothecia, podetia patchily sorediate, or squamulose, occasionally branched and with distinctive eroding-sorediate patches under the apothecia – podetia tall and thin 2–5–8 cm tall. It is generally recognised by the abundant, crowded bundles of brownish fungal tissue along the cup margins.
