Flora of New Zealand Series

≡Siphula torulosa var. fastigiata Nyl., Syn. meth. lich. 1 (2): 263 (1860).

=Siphula mooreae [" moorei "] Zahlbr., Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. Wien math.-naturwiss. Kl. 104: 365 (1941).

Siphula mooreae. Holotype. New Zealand. South Auckland, Mt Moehau, Coromandel peninsula, c. 850 m on soil, i.1934, L.B. Moore ZA 299 – W 2194. Isotype – CHR 381012.

Description : Thallus fruticose, forming mats or tufts on soil. Lobes very variable, broadly flattened, plane, or more commonly undulate, curved and/or somewhat twisted in several planes, usually erect and ascending, or decumbent and contorted, crowded to rather dispersed, typically tufted at base and then sparsely branched (to ×3), (5–)10–35 mm tall, 0.5–4 mm wide, 0.15–0.4 mm thick. Surface vividly chalky white to very pale olive-grey, smooth to wrinkled and dimpled, or scabrid-areolate (×10 lens). Apices and margins rounded, entire or crenulate, or undulate to crenate, not markedly thickened. Rhizomorphs branched and entangled, terete, pale-grey to pale-brown, 0.5–0.7(–1.2) mm thick at point of attachment.

Chemistry : Cortex and medulla K+ weak yellow or −, C−, KC−, Pd+ yellow-orange, UV+ white; containing baeomycesic and squamatic acids.

N: South Auckland (Coromandel Peninsula) S: Canterbury (Arthur's Pass, Craigieburn Ra., Wakefield Ridge Mt Cook); Otago (Mt Brewster Haast Pass, Mt Birnam Blue River, Cosmos Ra., Key Dome, Harris Saddle, Sugarloaf Saddle, Fiery Peak, Stag Pass, Forgotten River, Cow Saddle, Dunstan Mts, Old Man Ra.), Southland (Gertrude Saddle, Mt Irene). St: (Mt Allen). On soil in subalpine to alpine grassland. Known also from Tasmania, Central (Costa Rica) and South America (Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile) (Kantvilas 1998b: 130; 2002a; Aptroot 2002e; Kantvilas & Elix 2002; McCarthy 2003c, 2006).

Austral

Illustrations : Kantvilas (1998b: 131, fig. 3; 2002a: 43, fig. 3; 2004k: 952, fig. 3C).

Siphula fastigiata is characterised by: the terricolous habit; baeomycesic and squamatic acids (medulla UV+ white); lobes are typically broadly flattened, elongate and sparsely branched, often with rolled, rather thickened or rounded apices (similar on both surfaces and not dorsiventral as in S. decumbens); the surface vivid chalky white or olive-grey and without the fawnish or greyish blue tinges seen in other species (Kantvilas 1998b: 129). Like S. decumbens it is an extremely variable species, the variation in thallus shape and surface texture apparently a response to changes in habitat conditions. S. fastigiata is quite commonly infested by lichenicolous fungi which form black or pinkish, swollen galls and/or perithecia-like structures.