Alectoria Ach.
Thallus fruticose, erect, caespitose, decumbent, subpendent or pendent, branching variable. Branches ± terete, becoming compressed and angular to faveolate near the base and at branch axils, greenish-yellow to yellow in most species, fuscous black to black and pinkish below in A. nigricans, isidia, soralia and lateral spinules absent. Pseudocyphellae always present, abundant, conspicuous, fusiform, white, markedly raised, sometimes becoming sorediate and bearing spinules. Apothecia lateral, rare in some species, common in others (not known from New Zealand material), thalline exciple concolorous with thallus, persistent and often markedly incurved, not ciliate, disc dark brown or black. Asci clavate, thick-walled, 2-4-spored. Ascospores ellipsoid, with a distinct hyaline epispore, brown, simple. Pycnidia rare.
Alectoria is a widely distributed genus of 8 species, included in the family Usneaceae. Three species are bipolar, three are circumboreal and widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere, with the genus as a whole showing its greatest diversity in western North America [Brodo and Hawksworth Opera Bot. 42: 1-164 (1977)]. One species is known from the mountains of New Zealand.
