Flora of New Zealand Series

Type : Xylographa parallela (Ach:Fr.) Behlen & Desberg [Lichen parallelus Ach.]

Descriptions : Flora (1985: 620). See also Orange (1992c: 648).

Xylographa is a small genus of c. 11 species worldwide (Ryan 2004b), included in the family Agyriaceae (Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005). The genus is readily distinguished among the hysterothecial genera of the Agyriaceae by the brown (never blackish) true exciple; by the pale amyloid reaction of the hymenial gel, and the secondary hysterothecial growth (Lumbsch 1997b). Results of ascomatal anatomy and ontogeny (Lumbsch 1997a) confirm its place in the Agyriaceae. Xylographa is a predominantly Northern Hemisphere genus that is much in need of a modern revision. The following accounts contain useful information relating to it (Redinger 1938a; Laundon 1963; Poelt 1969; Brodo 1976, 1984b, 1992, 1995b; Purvis et al. 1992; Nimis 1993; Santesson 1993; Brodo et al. 2001; Ryan 2004b). Two species are recorded from New Zealand. [The sorediate species, X. vitiligo (Ach.) J.R.Laundon, commonly collected and circumpolar in the Northern Hemisphere, was recently recorded from weathered wood on the Husvik whaling station pier in South Georgia (Øvstedal & Lewis Smith 2001). It should be looked for in New Zealand.]