Flora of New Zealand Series

Polycauliona cribrosa Hue, Bull. Soc. linn. Normandie sér. 6, 1: 87 (1909).

Thallus caespitose, 1-4 cm diam., rosette-forming to ± spreading, deep chrome yellow, paler at margins, verrucose-areolate centrally, areolae small, marginal lobes radiate, convex, closely dichotomous, 10-15 mm long, ± terete, 0.5-0.8 mm diam., apices subflabellate, digitate, ultimate lobules 1-1.5 mm long, 0.4 mm diam., closely attached, surface smooth, with effigurate, yellowish maculae (×10 lens). Apothecia frequent, central, rarely marginal, 0.5-1.0 mm diam., sessile, disc orange, concave to plane, margins ± prominent, paler than disc. Ascospores ellipsoid, 10-13 × 5.5-8 µm.

N: North Auckland (Shag Bay, Tawhiti Rahi, Poor Knights Is). St: (Bird I.) see Fineran [ N.Z. J. Bot. 4: 133-146 (1966)]. Sn: [Fineran T.R.S.N.Z. (Bot.) 3: 237-270 (1969)]. A: [Fineran J.R.S.N.Z. 1: 215-229 (1971)]. M: On supralittoral rocks or amongst mosses on rocks.

Austral

C. cribrosa is one of a group of coastal saxicolous lichens (rarely it will colonise decorticated wood) characteristic of subantarctic localities in southern New Zealand. The ± terete, subfruticose lobes with scattered maculae on their surface are characteristic. It is included in sect. Thamnonoma of Caloplaca and in some earlier accounts is recorded as Kuttlingeria macquariensis Dodge.