Parmelia cunninghamii Cromb.
Thallus loosely attached, to 15 cm diam., rather thick, coriaceous, corticolous or saxicolous. Lobes rounded to broadly linear-laciniate (12-20 × 5 mm), undulate centrally, margins entire, sinuous or subcrenate, black and shining, often ascending and slightly thickened. Upper surface smooth, waxy, often white-pruinose, sometimes coarsely wrinkled, greenish-grey (becoming distinctly yellowish on storage), pseudocyphellae rather few, small, fleck-like, mainly at margins. Soralia common, marginal, rarely laminal, globose to linear-confluent, soredia whitish, becoming grey-black with age, rather coarse and granular. Lower surface black, rhizinate, often with a smooth, naked, shining, brown marginal zone. Rhizines black, simple to squarrosely branched, sparse to dense. Apothecia rare, subpedicellate, disc plane to distinctly concave, matt, brown, imperforate, margins entire or shallowly incised, thalline exciple strongly wrinkled and pseudocyphellate, not sorediate. Ascospores ellipsoid, 11-15 × 6.5-8.3 µm. Pycnidia rare, minute, black, punctiform, towards margins. Chemistry: Cortex K+ yellow; medulla K+ yellow → red, C-, KC+ red, Pd+ orange. Salazinic acid and atranorin.
S: Nelson to Southland, mainly coastal, though common locally inland east of the Main Divide from Lewis Pass to Fiordland. St: A: C: Ant: From s.l. to 1000 m in areas of moderately high rainfall. Most commonly epiphytic on trees and shrubs in open situations, rarely on rocks.
Austral
P. cunninghamii has affinities with P. sulcata but is distinguished from it by the larger, undulate lobes, the smaller, scattered pseudocyphellae and by the mainly marginal soralia which are not derived from pseudocyphellae. The species has a constant morphology in all localities from which it is recorded and New Zealand populations agree well with the Fuegian type.
P. protosulcata Hale [ Mycotaxon 16: 162 (1982)] is also present in New Zealand. It is similar to P. cunninghamii but the medulla contains protocetraric acid.
