Degelia durietzii Arv. & D.J.Galloway
Holotype: New Zealand. Canterbury, Nina Valley. On Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortioides. D. J. Galloway, 1979, CHR 343110!
Thallus ± orbicular, loosely attached, to 7 cm diam. Lobes dark leaden grey to bluish-black when wet, pale grey to faint greyish-blue when dry, 0.3-0.7(-0.9) cm wide, adjacent to somewhat imbricate, broadly cuneate to flabellate, apices rounded, margins ± entire or variously notched or incised, ± deflexed. Upper surface matt, minutely wrinkled, uneven, in parts minutely scabrid, with transverse, concentric ridges, isidiate. Isidia concolorous with thallus, laminal and marginal, at first granular, becoming terete, mainly simple, occasionally weakly branching, 0.01-0.15 mm diam., to 1 mm long, sparse in young lobes, becoming crowded in older parts. Lower surface pale, densely rhizinate. Rhizines pale, sometimes becoming bluish-grey or blackish, rarely visible beyond lobe margins, complex, entangled or arranged in distinct lines. Apothecia sparse to frequent, to 1.5 mm diam., disc concave at first becoming plane or convex with age, usually pale brown, sometimes blackened or dark with age, proper margin distinct (at least in young apothecia) usually pale, sometimes dark with age, occasionally with small, white, basal, projecting hairs, fruits closely surrounded by a ring of granular to terete or partly flattened isidia, forming a ± lobulate thalline margin. Ascospores 11-15 × 5-8 µm.
N: Wellington (East of Taumaranui, Erua Swamp, Mt Marchant, Tararua Ra.). S: Canterbury (Nina Valley near Lewis Pass, Wilberforce Valley, Governor's Bush, Mt Cook). Rather restricted in distribution, from 800 to 1500 m.
Australasian
D. durietzii is an epiphyte of Nothofagus menziesii, N. solandri var. cliffortioides and Dracophyllum subulatum, either at treeline or in valley swamps or clearings in forested areas where rainfall is high and mist or fog frequent. The presence of isidia is characteristic. Sterile thalli are difficult to distinguish from those of Coccocarpia palmicola, however the upper surface of the latter is often shining and rather thinner in texture and less coriaceous. It is readily separable when fertile.
