Cladia inflata (F.Wilson) D.J.Galloway
Cladonia aggregata var. inflata F. Wilson, Pap. Proc. R. Soc. Tasm. 1892: 153 (1893).
Primary thallus not seen, plants rather loosely clustered, muscicolous or terricolous. Pseudopodetia dying at base, 3.5-6.5 cm tall, stout, inflated, very fragile when dry, to 5 mm diam., corticate, smooth, matt, dull not shining, dark brownish-black below, pale stramineous or brown above, pale greenish-brown below, pale stramineous or brown above in shaded habitats, becoming entirely reddish-brown or blackened in exposed sites, branching mainly dichotomous, axils closed, rarely perforate or fissured, apices acute, 2-spinose. Medulla thin, white, tomentose, not filling the hollow interior of the branch. Apothecia not seen. Chemistry: Cortex K-, KC+ faint yellow, Pd+ red. Fumarprotocetraric acid.
S: Southland (Fiordland). St:
Australasian
C. inflata has a rather restricted occurrence in high-rainfall areas between lat. 45°S and 47.5°S, west of the Main Divide in Fiordland and on Stewart I. It is a subalpine species growing most commonly in well-drained Chionochloa -grasslands from 1000 to 1600 m associated with Cladia aggregata, C. sullivanii and Siphula decumbens (Galloway loc. cit. 1977).
