Flora of New Zealand Series

Type : Endocarpon pusillum Hedw.

Description : Thallus squamose. Squamae solitary to crowded, often overlapping; with rhizohyphae, with or without rhizines, lacking an umbilicus. Upper cortex ±paraplectenchymatous, pachydermatous or leptodermatous. Medulla of spherical cells and/or filamentous hyphae. Lower cortex of spherical cells. Photobiont green, cells rounded ? Protococcus. Ascomata perithecia, laminal, immersed, lacking involucrellum; with hymenial algae; exciple brown, periphyses heavily gelatinised. Asci bitunicate. Ascospores (1–)2(–8) per ascus, muriform, brown. Conidiomata pycnidia, Staurothele -type, laminal, immersed.

The genus Endocarpon, accommodated in the family Verrucariaceae (Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005), comprises c. 60 mostly terricolous or saxicolous taxa that are found mainly in tropical and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It is characterised by a squamose habit, variously elaborate rhizines, simple immersed perithecia that contain hymenial algae, heavily gelatinised periphyses, and bitunicate asci with (1–)2(–8) muriform, brown spores. The genus is closely related to the crustose Staurothele (q.v.), their separation on the basis of growth form being both reasonable and reliable (McCarthy 1991c). Australian taxa are discussed by McCarthy (1991c, 2001d), Japanese taxa by Harada (1993b) and species from the Sonoran Desert by Breuss (2002c). Three species are known from New Zealand. See also McCarthy (1992b, 1995g, 2001d).