Flora of New Zealand Series

≡Parmelia zollingeri Hepp in H. Zollinger, Syst. Verz. 1: 9 (1854).

Description : Thallus loosely adnate, membranaceous, 10–20 cm diam. Lobes plane, rounded, 10–18 mm wide, central parts ±laciniate, margins entire to crenulate, cilia prominent, short, 1 mm long or shorter. Upper surface pale-grey, emaculate, smooth, slightly wrinkled in central parts, without isidia or soredia. Lower surface black, with a broad, dark-brown, naked, marginal zone, rhizinate. Rhizines sparse, short, simple, black. Apothecia subpedicellate, laminal, 3–10 mm diam., disc imperforate, concave, thalline exciple faintly maculate (×10 lens). Ascospores 18–22 × 7–10 μm. Pycnidia rare. Conidia sublageniform, 6–8 × 1 μm.

Chemistry : Cortex K+ yellow; medulla K+ dirty brown, C−, Pd+ brick-red; containing atranorin, chloroatranorin, and protocetraric acid.

N: Northland. Still very poorly known in New Zealand. Known also from East Africa, North Central and South America, Mauritius, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Australia (Swinscow & Krog 1988; Elix 1994p; Wolseley et al. 2002; McCarthy 2003c, 2006).

Pantropical

Illustrations : Krog & Swinscow (1981: 225, fig. 30 – as Parmelia zollingeri).

Parmotrema zollingeri is characterised by: the corticolous habit; the ciliate lobes; the lack of isidia or soredia; and the presence of protocetraric acid in the medulla.