Steinera radiata subsp. aucklandica P.James & Henssen
Holotype: New Zealand. Auckland Is, Mount Eden, on basalt boulders in boggy depressions among tufts of Chionochloa antarctica, Argopsis megalospora, 400 m. P. James NZ 858/2, 31.xii. 1962, BM!
Similar to S. radiata subsp. radiata in habit but differing in the narrower, ellipsoid-clavate asci (55-60 × 8-12 µm) and ellipsoid spores (9.5-)12-14(-15) × 4-5(-6) µm. Paraphyses are less branched at apices and apical cells more noticeably swollen.
A: (Mount Eden). Known only from two collections.
Endemic
S. radiata is a distinctive species forming neat rosettes, with emergent to sessile apothecia which are at first deeply innate. The species has Rivularia? and not Nostoc as photobiont. Anatomically the apothecia are similar to those of Coccocarpia. Like other species of the genus in New Zealand, distribution appears to be rare and local.
