Umbilicaria nylanderiana (Zahlbr.) H.Magn.
Gyrophora nylanderiana Zahlbr., Cat. lich. univ. 4: 720 (1927).
Thallus 1-2.5 cm diam., mono- or polyphyllous, thin, crisp, fragile, brittle when dry, very irregular to ± rosette-forming, margins ragged-incised, inrolled or ascending. Upper surface dull, smooth or plicate-rugose to ± shallowly or coarsely papillate, greyish-brown or buff to dark brown or blackened. Lower surface flat, smooth, black, ± uniformly sooty, with minute thallospores, rhizines absent. Apothecia not seen.
S: Canterbury (Mt Torlesse), Otago (Mt St Mary, Mt Pisgah, Rock and Pillar Ra., Maungatua). On exposed alpine rocks, 1000-1500 m. Still rather rarely collected.
Bipolar
U. nylanderiana is distinguished from U. hyperborea by the flat, sooty, black, lower surface and the very low degree of fertility. It commonly associates with U. polyphylla in exposed alpine habitats in New Zealand. It was first collected in New Zealand by J.S. Thomson in the 1930s [Frey Ber. schweiz. bot. Ges. 59: 464-465 (1949)].
