Flora of New Zealand Series

Description : Flora (1985: 397).

N: Northland (Radar Bush), South Auckland (Te Aroha, Mangaotaki Valley Pio Pio, Waihaha, West Taupo) to Wellington (Tiritea Stream Palmerston North, Wairarapa coast, Pinnacles Gorge). S: Nelson (Lake Rotoiti, Maruia River, Rahu Swamp), Westland (Karamea to Jackson Bay and Cascade Valley). Common on riverine shrubs and trees W of the Main Divide. It is mainly a twig species (on Carpodetus, Coprosoma propinqua, Dacrydium cupressinum, Dodonaea viscosa, Pennantia corymbosa etc.) though will also colonise bark. Lowland, coastal and inland in damp, humid habitats in moderate to deep shade. Known also from southern Chile and Juan Fernandez, Victoria and Tasmania (Zahlbruckner 1908; Kantvilas 1989, 1994b; Verdon 1992b; Elix & McCarthy 1998; Galloway & Quilhot 1999; McCarthy 2003c, 2006).

Austral

Illustrations : Malcolm & Galloway (1997: 104, 171); Malcolm & Malcolm (2000: 41); McCarthy & Malcolm (2004: 56).

Physma chilense is characterised by: the corticolous habit (on small twigs); the bluish grey thallus which is pliable when wet, rigid when dry, the margins often white-pruinose; the bright-red or red-brown apothecial discs with white-pruinose margins; and ascospores, 16–20 × 12–15 μm.