Flora of New Zealand Series

≡Cladonia ? scutellata Fr. in J.G.C. Lehmann, Pl. Preiss. 2: 141 (1846) ["1846–1847"].

=Baeomyces hyalinus Taylor, Hook. J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 6: 187 (1847).

≡Thysanothecium hyalinum (Taylor) Nyl., Mém. Soc. Sci. nat. Cherbourg 5: 94 (1858) ["1857"].

Description : Flora (1985: 581).

Chemistry : Cortex and medulla K−, C−, KC−, Pd−; containing divaricatic, nordivaricatic (tr.), stenosporic (tr.) and usnic acids.

N: Northland (Radar Bush near Pandora, Te Huka, Karikari Peninsula, Awanui Swamp, Puketi Forest, Okaihu Hill, Little Barrier I., Great Barrier I. to Waiwera), Auckland (Anawhata, Waitakere Ra.), South Auckland (Waiomu, Mt Maungatawhiri, Hot Water Beach, Coromandel Ra., Great Mercury I., Waiomu, Kaingaroa, Waituhi). S: Nelson (Crusader Bluff, Lake Rotoroa), Marlborough (Ship Cove) to Southland. Both E and W of the Main Divide, on charred wood, rarely on decorticated wood (e.g. dead stumps of Cupressus macrocarpa), coastal and inland, s.l. to 300 m – an easily overlooked species. Known also from Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and Australia (Galloway & Bartlett 1983; Stenroos 1988b; Sammy 1992; Hammer 2001b; McCarthy 2003c, 2006).

Western Pacific

Illustrations : Duvigneaud (1944: 153, fig. 17: 4 – as Thysanothecium hyalinum); Jahns (1970: 129, fig. 33; 139, fig. 58, 62; 168, fig. 103: 1–5 – as T. hyalinum); Galloway & Bartlett (1983: 391, fig. 5; 392, fig. 6); Hammer (2001b: 77, figs 1–6; 78, figs 7–12; 79, figs 13–15).

Thysanothecium scutellatum is characterised by: the lignicolous (charred wood) habit; the fissured cortex with corticate granules protruding from the cartilaginous network of nerve-like strands; the marginate apothecia; the morphology of the primary thallus; chemistry; and by its distinctive habitat requirements of charred wood.