Flora of New Zealand Series

≡Cladina mitis (Sandst.) Hustich, Acta Geogr. (Helsinki) 12 (1): 27 (1951).

=Cladonia arbuscula ssp. stictica Ruoss, Lichenologist 21 (1): 37 (1989).

Cladonia arbuscula ssp. stictica. Holotype: New Zealand. Otago, Mt Maungatua, summit bogs, 1935, J.S. Thomson T2146 – CHR 425285 [determined by Sandstede as Cladonia mitis]. Isotypes – CHR 425279, 425280, 425281, 525283, H, NMLU, OTA.

Description : Flora (1985: 99–100 – as Cladina mitis).

Chemistry : Three strains present: (1) usnic, stictic, norstictic, connorstictic and constictic acids; (2) usnic, stictic, norstictic, connorstictic, constictic, fumarprotocetraric, fumarprotocetraric acids Cph–2 and unidentified compounds; (3) usnic acid alone (Ruoss & Ahti 1989: 37–38).

N: Gisborne (Arowhana Raukumara Ra.). S: Nelson (Mt Arthur, St Arnaud Ra., Lake Rotoiti), Marlborough (Raglan Ra., Mt Fishtail), Westland (Kelly Ra., Great Unknown tarns, Barlow River, Bealey Ra. Haast), Canterbury (Lewis Pass, Nina Valley, Arthur's Pass, Bealey Ra., Woolshed Hill, Liebig Ra., Malte Brun Ra., Kirkliston Ra.), Otago (Mt Minos Humboldt Mts, Pisa Ra., St Bathans Ra., Mt Pisgah Kakanui Mts, Old Man Ra., Teviot Swamp, Lammerlaw Ra., Kyeburn Ra., Maungatua), Southland (Key Summit, The Wilderness, Seaward Bush, Sandy Point, Awarua Bay, Waituna Lagoon, Takahe Valley). St: (Mt Anglem, Glory Cove, Table Hill, Tin Ra., Deceit Peaks, Port Pegasus). In subalpine to high alpine grasslands, heathlands and shrublands. In exposed alpine grasslands of Stewart Island it is used, together with leaves of Dracophyllum longifolium, as nest-lining material of the New Zealand dotterel (Charadrius obscurus). Widespread in the Northern Hemisphere. Known also from New South Wales and Tasmania (Ruoss & Ahti 1989; McCarthy 2003c, 2006), Southern South America and Antarctica (Øvstedal & Lewis Smith 2001).

Australasian

Bipolar

Illustrations : Martin & Child (1972: 57, pl. 6 – as Cladonia alpestroides; 58, pl. 7); Brodo (1981: 100, fig. 54); Thomson (1984: 148); Ruoss & Ahti (1989: 37, fig. 3 – as Cladonia mitis ssp. stictica); Krog et al. (1994: 162); Goward (1999: 103, fig. 11B – as Cladina mitis); Brodo et al. (2001: 226, pl. 201 – as Cladina mitis); Sérusiaux et al. (2004: 60).

Cladonia mitis is characterised by: anisotomous podetia, mainly trichotomous branching; and the presence of usnic (±), stictic, norstictic and sometimes fumarprotocetraric acids. It differs from non-Australasian specimens of C. mitis that contain fatty acids of the rangiformic acid complex (Ruoss 1987a, 1987b). C. mitis differs from C. pycnoclada (Pers.) Nyl. This latter species is known in the Southern Hemisphere only from Argentina and Chile (Ruoss & Ahti 1989) and from Antarctica (Stenroos 1993: Øvstedal & Lewis Smith 2000). A recent study of phylogenetic relationships and levels of geographical differentiation of the two closely related bipolar species Cladonia arbuscula and C. mitis (Myllys et al. 2003) has shown that C. mitis appears to have evolved from C. arbuscula, as a strongly supported monophyletic group, but that C. arbuscula is paraphytletic. Very robust populations of this species were earlier referred to C. alpestroides (Martin 1960: 174; 1962: 43; Martin & Child 1972).