Gyalidea lecanorina (C.Knight) P.James
Placodium lecanorinum Knight, Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. ser. 2, Bot. 1: 282 (1877) tab. 38, fig. 15.
Lectotype: New Zealand. Sine loco Wellington. Charles Knight, ex Herb. J. M. Crombie, BM!
Thallus continuous, thin, minutely verrucose or plicate-rugose, matt or shining, olive-greenish to pale buff or sordid yellowish-green, in irregular patches 0.5-2.0 cm diam. Apothecia numerous, solitary or close together, slightly immersed at first then ± sessile, disc shallowly or deeply concave, pale yellow-brown, translucent when wet, margins entire, persistent, concolorous with disc or darker, often somewhat blackened. Hymenium colourless c. 120 µm tall. Asci clavate, 50-55 × 7-10 µm. Ascospores ellipsoid, apices pointed, 3-septate, 12-15 × 4-4.5 µm.
N: Known only from the type collection.
Endemic
A specimen from Knight's herbarium preserved in BM has a species of Placopsis growing close to G. lecanorina, and in his description of Placodium lecanorinum, Knight does in fact mention the cephalodia of the Placopsis. However his description of the spores and the figure accompanying his description clearly show them to be 3-septate and hence referable to Gyalidea. Spores of Placopsis are always simple. The reference to cephalodia in the type description should therefore be ignored.
