Flora of New Zealand Series

Description : Thallus verrucose–areolate, to 6 cm diam., and to 0.3 mm thick, without a delimiting prothallus. Areolae irregularly angular, white to grey, plane to subconvex, roughened or smooth, 0.5–1 mm diam. Medulla I−. Apothecia rounded to auriculate, scattered to crowded, 0.7–1.3(–2) mm diam., sessile. Disc plane to subconvex, black, matt, rarely white-pruinose; margins concolorous with disc, matt, distinct at first then becoming occluded. Hypothecium dark-brown, 120–160(–200) μm thick, subhymenial layer pale brownish or greenish, 15–30 μm thick. Hymenium 60–95 μm tall, colourless to pale greenish, I+ bluish brown; epithecium olivaceous, 10 μm thick. Asci 60–75 × 10–12 μm; tholus to 9 μm thick. Ascospores ellipsoidal, (7–)9–16.5(–20) × 5–8 μm. Pycnidia immersed. Conidia 6–10 × 1 μm.

Chemistry : TLC−, all reactions negative.

N: South Auckland (Whale I.). S: Otago (Dunedin). On soil, especially sunny clay banks and siliceous rocks in open situations (Lumbsch & Hayward 1994). Known also from Baja California and Australia (Rambold 1989; McCarthy 2003c, 2006; Hertel & Printzen 2004).

Cosmopolitan

Illustration : Eldridge & Tozer (1997: 37, fig. 4.16).

Lecidea ochroleuca is characterised by: the saxicolous habit; broadly ellipsoidal ascospores, a dark-brown hypothecium, asci Lecidea -type; and no detectable secondary compounds in the medulla. It is the only known species of Lecidea in New Zealand to colonise sandy soil (Rambold 1989).