Flora of New Zealand Series

Description : Flora (1985: 167).

S: Southland (Lake Thompson Fiordland). On mossy rocks in waterfall spray, or on periodically inundated rocks in riverbeds or at streamsides. Still very poorly collected and understood here. Known also from Tasmania (Henssen 1963d; McCarthy 2003c, 2006).

Australasian

Illustrations : Henssen (1963d: pl. 10B).

Ephebe fruticosa is characterised by: the saxicolous habit; the pulvinate thallus form; and the densely entangled branches with many side branches or spinules giving the lichen a "bristling" appearance.