Flora of New Zealand Series

Thallus foliose, lobate, dorsiventral, heteromerous, corticolous. Lobes rather small, irregularly to subdichotomously branching, often imbricate. Upper surface convex, yellowish-green to yellow (usnic acid in upper cortex). Medulla white, loosely woven. Lower surface corticate, between conspicuous, rounded, moniliform, patches of thick, brown or black hypothallus. Rhizines few, thick, simple, with an anchoring tuft at apex, brown or black. Apothecia sessile or subpedicellate, disc plane to concave, imperforate, reddish-brown, with a conspicuous thalline margin, concolorous with thallus. Ascospores spherical, thick-walled, colourless, 8 per ascus. Chemistry: Divaricatic and usnic acids.

Pannoparmelia is a predominantly Southern Hemisphere genus of 3 described species, characterised by the distinctly beaded hypothallus, an upper cortex of palisade plectenchyma (containing usnic acid), a pored epicortex, and 8-spored asci, and included in the family Parmeliaceae [Galloway N.Z. J. Bot. 16: 261-270 (1978)]. Two species are present in New Zealand. Typification of synonyms is given in Galloway ( loc. cit. ).