Flora of New Zealand Series

Descriptiosn : Flora (1965: 501). See also Blanchon et al. (1996a: 92).

Chemistry : Medulla K+ pink; containing usnic, homosekikaic, seki-kaic, ramalinolic, 4'- O -demethylsekikaic, 4'- O -methylnorsekikaic, and ±4'- O -methylnorhomosekikaic acids.

K: Raoul. N: Northland (Three Kings Is, Great Barrier I.) to Auckland, the Waikato and Bay of Plenty. S: Marlborough (Stephens I.), Otago (Silver Peaks – this record is doubtful). Ch.: (Wharekauri) [map in Bannister et al. (2004: 129, fig. 5)]. Most commonly collected from trees and shrubs (occasionally also on rocks) in northern coastal forest. It is known from the following phorophytes: Avicennia marina var. resinifera, Dacrycarpus dacrydioides, Kunzea ericoides, Leptospermum scoparium, Meryta sinclairii, Metrosideros excelsa, Nothofagus menziesii [a single specimen was collected from silver beech in the Painted Forest, Silver Peaks in 1933 by J.S. Thomson (CHR) – it has however, not been re-located in this area subsequently], Pittosporum crassifolium and Rhopalostylis baueri var. cheesemanii. Known also from the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America, the Galapagos Is, Hawai'i, New Caledonia, Lord Howe I., Norfolk I., Tahiti, the Bonin Is, Java, the Phillipines, Japan, Australia, E Africa and Tristan da Cunha (Stevens 1991b: 55, fig. 4.5; Elix & McCarthy 1998; Aptroot 2002e; McCarthy 2003c, 2006; Kashiwadani & Nash 2004).

Pantropical

Illustrations : Stevens (1987: 171, pl. 9, figs 1, 2); Swinscow & Krog (1988: 285, fig. 142); Blanchon et al. (1996a: 78, fig. 7E; 85, fig. 9G); Malcolm & Galloway (1997: 73); Brodo et al. (2001: 628, pl. 764); Cordeiro et al. 2004: 493, fig. 3).

Ramalina peruviana is characterised by: the corticolous (occasionally saxicolous) habit; the dense, irregular, branching pattern; branches flattened at base, subterete to terete towards apices; punctiform soralia with small fibrils; and sekikaic acid in the medulla.