Flora of New Zealand Series

Holotype: New Zealand. Wellington, Tararua State Forest, 16 km NW of Masterton, between Mt Holdsworth Lodge and Donelly Flat, 40º54's, 175º29'E, 320 m, on bark of Weinmannia racemosa in mixed Nothofagus –podocarp forest, 12.v.1981, L. Tibell 12876 – UPS. Isotype – CHR.

Description : Apothecia 0.9–1.3 mm tall. Stalk pale to dark-olivaceous or greyish, occasionally branched once. Capitulum 0.18–0.30 mm diam., narrowly obconical, dark-grey to almost black, with distinctly thickened, porrectulate margin. Stalk 0.08–0.12 mm diam., of periclinal, slightly branched hyphae. Stalk hyphae not sclerotised, or just slightly sclerotised close to base of stalk. Stalk in section pale to olivaceous brown, without hyaline coat. Excipulum 19–27 μm thick laterally, formed as a continuation of stalk, of 5–8 layers of periclinal, cylindrical, dark-brown cells. Edge of excipulum strongly thickened (60–75 μm thick) forming a porrectulate margin. Hypothecium medium brown, obconical, with numerous oil droplets. Asci cylindrical, 175–230 × 13–15 μm. Ascospores dark-brown, thick-walled, 3-septate, with strongly and unevenly thickened septa, with very tiny and pale end lumina; central lumina rhomboid, end lumina conical. Spore wall smooth.

N: Auckland (Waitakere Ra.), South Auckland (Te Aroha, Mamaku Plateau, Galaxy Road), Taranaki (Mt Taranaki, Stratford Mountain House), Wellington (Tararua Ra.). S: Westland (Kelly's Creek near Otira). The late John Bartlett recorded this species from rimu in the Waitakere Ra. (Bartlett 1988) noting that it was "very inconspicuous and difficult to find". Predominantly on the bark of Weinmannia in humid and rather shaded habitats, it grows directly on the host bark or intermingled with various crustose lichens. Known also from the the bark of Dacrydium cupressinum, Dracophyllum traversii and Pseudopanax (Tibell 1987). It has an altitudinal range of 320–910 m.

Endemic

Illustrations : Tibell (1987: 263, fig. 199; 264, fig. 200; 265, fig. 201).

Stenocybe bartletti is characterised by: the corticolous habit; the brownish or olivaceous tinge of the stalk; the porrectulate margin of the excipulum; and the large, 3-septate spores with minute, pale, end cells.