Flora of New Zealand Series

≡Sphaerophorus tener Laurer, Linnaea 2: 45 (1827).

=Sphaerophorus taylorii C.W.Dodge, Nova Hedwigia 19: 489 (1971) ["1970"].

=Sphaerophoron australe Hook.f. & Taylor, Lond. J. Bot. 3: 653 (1844) non Laurer.

=Sphaerophorus curtus Hook.f. & Taylor, Lond. J. Bot. 3: 654 (1844).

≡Sphaerophorus tener var. curtus (Hook.f. & Taylor) Taylor & Hook.f. in J.D. Hooker, Fl. Ant. 1: 195 (1845).

≡Sphaerophorus globosus var. curtus (Hook.f. & Taylor) Zahlbr., Cat. lich. univ. 1 (4): 692 (1922).

≡Sphaerophorus tener f. curtus (Hook.f. & Taylor) M.Satô, Misc. Bryol. Lichenol. (Nichinan) 5: 27 (1969).

=Sphaerophorus tener f. globosoides Js.Murray, Trans. Roy. Soc. N. Z. 88: 194 (1960).

Sphaerophorus taylorii. Lectotype: New Zealand. Auckland Is, 1840, J.D. Hooker s.n. – FH–TAYL 246 [fide Ohlsson in Tibell (1987: 254)]. Isolectotype – BM.

Sphaerophorus curtus. Lectotype: New Zealand. Auckland Is, 1840, J.D. Hooker s.n. – FH–TAYL. 153 [fide Ohlssson in Tibell (1987: 254)]. Isolectotypes – BM, UPS.

Sphaerophorus tener f. globosides. Holotype: New Zealand. Otago, near Pulpit Rock, Silver Peaks, 1959, J. Murray 4288 – OTA. Isotype – BM.

Descriptions : Flora (1985: 536); Wedin (1995b: 87–89; 2001b: 12–13).

Chemistry : Medulla K−, Pd−. I−; containing sphaerophorin (major) and unidentified compounds.

N: S: St: Ch: A: C: Ant.: M: Throughout from Northland (Pandora) to Stewart I., and the subantarctic islands, both E and W of the Main Divide, very widely distributed both on the ground and on rocks in alpine and subantarctic biomes, and in all types of temperate rainforest and occasionally in bogs. Known also from SE Australia, Tasmania, Argentina and Chile (Wedin 1995b: 89–91; 2001b: 13; McCarthy 2003c, 2006).

Austral

Exsiccati : Tibell (1984a: No. 97 – as Sphaerophorus tener).

Illustrations : Murray (1960a: fig. 12 – as Sphaerophorus tener f. globosoides); Martin & Child (1972: 156, pl. 45 – as Sphaerophorus tener); Tibell (1984a: 613, fig. 6E; 617, fig. 8C; 620, fig. 10D – as Sphaerophorus tener; 1987: 255, fig. 192 – as Sphaerophorus tener); Wedin (1990: 540, fig. 1; 543, figs 6–11; 544, fig. 12 – as Sphaerophorus tener); Wedin (1995b: 88, fig. 45); Malcolm & Galloway (1997: 177); Malcolm & Malcolm (2000: 60); Döring & Wedin (2000b: 363, fig. 1; 365, fig. 2E); Flora of Australia 58A (2001: xiii, pl. 11).

Exsiccati : Vězda (1997g: No. 323).

Leifidium tenerum is characterised by: the terricolous/corticolous habit; the pale, slender, richly branched thallus which often forms extensive colonies covering large areas, or small cushions or patches on twigs and branches; and by the terminal apothecia on taller stouter branches projecting above the thallus.