Pseudocyphellaria billardierei (Delise) Räsänen
Sticta billardieri Delise, Mém. Soc. linn. Calvados 2: 99 (1825) pl. 8, fig. 35.
Lectotype: Cap Diemen (Tasmania). La Billardière ex Herb. Delise, PC-LENORMAND! Isolectotype material in Florence in La Billardière's herbarium (Herb. Webbianum) consists of three pieces (19 × 13 cm, 13 × 8 cm and 6 × 3 cm) amply illustrating the species.
Thallus irregularly spreading, loosely attached, apices ± free and subascending, 5-15(-25) cm diam., corticolous. Lobes regularly dichotomously to subdichotomously branching, 1-8(-12) mm wide, 1-10 cm long, well separated, discrete at margins, complex and often entangled centrally, rather flat, apices acute or truncate, rounded or bifurcating, margins entire, often thickened, smoothly rounded, without projecting pseudocyphellae. Upper surface matt or glossy, bright lettuce-green when wet, pale green or olive-brownish when dry, shallowly to deeply faveolate, interconnecting ridges smooth and rounded or sharp. Lower surface white or pale buff, conspicuously wrinkled to ± bullate, margins conspicuously thickened, ± glabrous in a narrow to broad marginal zone, thinly to densely tomentose often to margins, tomentum pale, whitish, silky near margins, entangled, brown-black centrally. Pseudocyphellae scattered to ± frequent, white, raised, verruciform, 0.05-0.2 mm diam., on interconnecting ridges, decorticate area small, depressed-punctate or indented below surrounding margins, rarely flat, margins thin ± puckered. Medulla white. Photobiont green. Apothecia marginal or submarginal, rather scattered, often developed towards lobe apices, subpedicellate, 0.5-2.5 mm diam., disc dark red-brown to black, roughened, epruinose, subconcave to plane and ± undulate, margins persistent or excluded in mature fruits, minutely crenate or verrucose, pale-red-brown to flesh-coloured, exciple pale red-brown, concolorous with margins, minutely verrucose-areolate, rarely pubescent or tomentose. Ascospores brown, ellipsoid-fusiform, simple at first, polaribilocular at maturity, 22-30 × 6.8-10.2 µm. Chemistry: Methyl evernate, tenuiorin, methyl lecanorate, methyl gyrophorate, hopane-6α,22-diol, (zeorin), 6α-16βdiacetoxyhopan-22-ol, 6α-acetoxyhopane-16β,22-diol, 6α-acetoxy-22-hydroxyhopan-23-oic acid, 6α-22dihydroxyhopan-23-oic acid, norstictic and stictic acids. (Wilkins and James loc. cit.,, Code C).
N: Northland to Wellington. S: Nelson to Southland. St. Throughout, on trees and shrubs in both coastal and inland forests.
Australasian
P. billardieri has long been misunderstood in Australasian lichenology. Our earlier circumscription of this taxon [Galloway and James Lichenologist 12: 293 (1980)] although following late 19th century views, especially that of Müller Argoviensis, is erroneous, as appraisal of the recently discovered La Billardière material in Florence and Paris showed. P. billardieri sens. str. , refers to plants having a green photobiont, white medulla, a pale to brown lower surface with moderate to dense tomentum, elevated verruciform white pseudocyphellae with puckered margins and an impressed decorticate area, narrow, ± flat, often widely separated lobes ascending at apices and regularly dichotomously branching, rounded, smooth margins that are not pseudocyphellate and with marginal or sub-marginal apothecia which are dark brown to black and epruinose. The spores are brown,polaribilocular. Our earlier view of the species refers to P. rufovirescens. P. billardieri is distinguished from P. faveolata (both species have brown, polaribilocular spores) by the flat, dichotomously branching lobes (lobe form is much more variable in P. faveolata) the smooth, rounded margins without pseudocyphellae, the thinner, pale tomentum of the lower surface and differences in structure of pseudocyphellae. The two species are chemically different (P. billardieri lacks physciosporin and methyl virensate). It is distinguished from P. rufovirescens by differences in chemistry, pseudocyphellae, character of the lower surface, colour of the apothecia and spores (colourless in P. rufovirescens). It is readily separated from P. carpoloma which has yellow pseudocyphellae on the margins and the lower surface and also a different chemistry [see Galloway et al. (1983)].
