Flora of New Zealand Series

Sphaerophoron australe J.D. Hook. et Taylor, Hook. Lond. J. Bot. 3: 653 (1844) non Laurer.

S. curtum J.D. Hook. et Taylor, Hook. Lond. J. Bot. 3: 654 (1844).

Sphaerophorus taylori Dodge, Nova Hedwigia 19: 489 (1971).

Thallus corticolous or terricolous rarely, on mossy rocks, occurring as small to large cushions, occasionally forming extensive patches on soil, to 1 m wide, morphology very variable, of elongate, fertile erect extended primary branches with shorter, thinner, sterile ± richly branched almost corymbose secondary branches. Primary branches terete, elongate, sparsely to frequently branched, to 7 cm tall, 0.6-1.2 mm wide, surface shining, pale white or greenish-white to fawn or yellowish-brown, cortex papery, thin, 30-45 µm covered by a thin (2-3 µm) epicortex. Algal layer 15-25 µm thick, continuous beneath cortex. Medulla of thick-walled hyphae 6-9 µm diam., partially fused and forming a dense central strand. Apothecia terminal 0.5-1.5 mm diam., subglobose to globose, mazaedium apical, exposed by irregular apical rupture of enclosing receptacle, at maturity partially surrounded by receptacle or free and prominent. Asci 40-65 × 5-8 µm. Ascospores spherical hyaline to greyish, 6.5-10 µm. Chemistry: K-, C-, KC-, Pd-. Sphaerophorin.

N: North Auckland to Wellington. S: Nelson to Southland. St: A: C: Throughout, the most common species in the genus in New Zealand, s.l. to 2000 m., in a wide variety of habitats from moist, humid habitats of moderate shade where it is an epiphyte of tree trunks and branches, to exposed subalpine or alpine grasslands.

Austral