Flora of New Zealand Series

Thallus dorsiventral, heteromerous, squamulose, placodioid or nearly areolate, rosette-forming to spreading, terricolous or saxicolous. Upper surface matt or scabrid, often white-pruinose, schizidia frequently developed. Photobiont green, Trebouxia. Medulla white. Apothecia sessile, lecanorine, disc orange to red-brown, K+ purple (containing parietin). Ascospores colourless, ellipsoid, simple, sometimes appearing spuriously 1-septate, 8 per ascus.

Fulgensia, included in the family Teloschistaceae, is a genus of c. 17 described species characteristic of calcareous rocks and/or soil. It is well-developed in the Northern Hemisphere [Poelt Mitt. bot. StSamml., Münch. 5: 571-607 (1965); Poelt and Vĕzda Bestimmungsschl. eur. Flecht. Erg. I: 100-114 (1977); Gilbert Lichenologist 10: 33-45 (1978)]. One species is known from limestone and limestone soils in New Zealand.