Thysanophoron stereocauloides (Nyl.) M.Satô
Sphaerophoron stereocauloides Nyl., Flora 52: 69 (1869).
Thysanophoron pinkertonii Stirton, Trans. Bot. Soc. Edin. 14: 359 (1883).
Sphaerophorus nobilis Zahlbr., Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. Wien math.-naturwiss. Kl. 104: 258 (1941).
Holotype: New Zealand. Charles Knight 1867, H-NYL 40395!
T. pinkertonii Lectotype: New Zealand. Sine loco Dr Pinkerton, GLAM! [labelled by Stirton Thysanocaulon Pinkertoni].
Sphaerophorus nobilis. Lectotype: New Zealand. Southland, Stuart Mountains, on tree trunks, W.A. Thomson ZA 424, CHR 162474!
Thallus fruticose, 7-15(-20) cm tall, attached to the substrate by a thick holdfast of brown branching rhizoids. Main branches terete, 2-6 mm thick, with terminal branchlets 1-1.5 mm in diam., branching irregular to subdichotomous, with numerous short, coralloid phyllocladial branchlets occurring in fasciculate groups. Surface of branches smooth, greenish-grey to whitish, transversely annulate-cracked. Cephalodia grey-blue, sparse to frequent, occurring with phyllocladial branchlets, small, cylindrical, to 5 mm long and 1.5-4 mm wide. Algal layer ± continuous, 40-60 µm thick, surrounding central medulla, photobiont Protococcus, spherical, 10-12 µm diam. Apothecia terminal, subglobose to globose 1.5-44 mm diam., mazaedium apical, exposed at an early stage of development by rupture of the enclosing receptacle, when mature black, partially surrounded by receptacle. Asci cylindrical. Ascospores spherical to broadly ellipsoid, dark blue to dark brownish, 8-12 µm diam. Chemistry: K-, C-, KC-, Pd-. Sphaerophorin.
N: Ruahine Ra. and Tararua Ra. S: Nelson (St Arnaud Ra.), Canterbury (Lewis River, Arthur's Pass, Cass), Westland (Mt Brewster), Otago (Lake Howden, Stuart Mountains), Southland (Manapouri, Monowai, Doubtful Sound). St: On bark (usually canopy branches of Nothofagus) rarely on rocks on forest floor in areas of high rainfall.
Endemic
T. stereocauloides is one of the most beautiful lichens in New Zealand, and is most commonly gathered from surface litter in areas of windthrow damage in Nothofagus forests, after dislodgement from canopy branches. The cephalodia in this species are almost always indistinguishable from phyllocladia in fresh material, but with care (×10 lens) can be distinguished. On storage, the colour of the phyllocladia bleaches to white and the bluish cephalodia are readily revealed. Zahlbruckner (1941) overlooked the presence of cephalodia in his specimens of S. nobilis but they are easily seen in the lectotype of this taxon (CHR).
