We value your privacy

We use cookies and other technologies to enhance your experience, analyse site usage, help with reporting, and assist in other ways to improve the website. You can choose to allow cookies and other technologies or decline. Your choice will not affect site functionality.

Click for help
Lichens (1985) - Flora of New Zealand Lichens
Copy a link to this page Cite this record

Chaenotheca (Th.Fr.) Th.Fr.

CHAENOTHECA (Th. Fr.) Th. Fr., 1860

*Account prepared by Dr L. Tibell (Uppsala).

Thallus crustaceous, immersed, farinose, granular, verrucose or squamulose. Photobiont: Dictyochloropsis, Stichococcus, Trebouxia or Trentepohlia. Apothecia well-stalked, with a brown mazaedium. Capitulum spherical to obconical. Stalk and excipulum formed of dark brown or black, periclinally arranged, parallel hyphae. Excipulum ± well-developed. Asci dissolving at an early stage, cylindrical. Ascospores medium brown, spherical, ellipsoid or cylindrical, usually simple, rarely with 1-3(-5) septa, often with areolate to irregular ornamentation. Chemistry: Vulpinic acid often occurring as a prunia on the apothecia and in one species, in the thallus.

Key

1
Apothecia with yellow to reddish-yellow or reddish-brown pruina on lower side of capitulum
2
Apothecia with white pruina on lower side of capitulum, or epruinose
5
2
Mature spores at least in part ellipsoid to cylindrical
3
Mature spores always spherical
4
3
Thallus intense yellow
chrysocephala
Thallus greenish-grey or indistinct
carthusiae
4
Mature spores 5.0-7.6 µm diam.; apothecia 8-16 times as long as width of stalk; stalk not flexuous
hispidula
Mature spores 2.9-3.5 µm diam.; apothecia 11-38 times as long as width of stalk; stalk flexuous
degelii
5
Photobiont Stichococcus
6
Photobiont belonging in Chloroccocales
8
6
Thallus immersed; outer part of excipulum of anticlinally arranged, swollen hyphae
xyloxena
Thallus episubstratic; outer part of excipulum of irregularly intertwined, mainly periclinally arranged hyphae
7
7
Thallus thin, farinose, pale greenish to bluish-green; lower side of capitulum with a whitish to pale brownish hyphal web
stemonea
Thallus thin or usually rather thick, verrucose to squamulose, greenish-grey; lower side of capitulum without a hyphal web, but usually with faint, white pruina
trichialis
8
Thallus white or greyish white, often with yellow or red spots reacting K+ purple red; capitulum obconical; spores 5.6-7.7 µm diam.
ferruginea
Thallus immersed, rarely episubstratic, dull green, without yellow or red spots, capitulum spherical to lenticular; spores 3.4-4.6 µm diam.
brunneola

The Northern Hemisphere species, a majority of which also occur in New Zealand, were revised by Tibell. [ Symb. bot. upsal. 23 (1): 1-65 (1980).]

Click to go back to the top of the page
Top