Flora of New Zealand Series

≡Lichen muricatus Ach., Lichenogr. suec. prodr.: 214 (1799) ["1798"].

≡Coelocaulon muricatum (Ach.) J.R.Laundon, Lichenologist 16 (1): 55 (1984).

Description : Thallus erect-caespitose, 1–3 cm tall. Lobes forming caespitose tufts arising directly from substratum, dying at base, densely dichotomously or irregularly branched, main lobes 0.5 mm wide, smooth, occasionally with longitudinal furrows or faveolae, side lobes 0.1–0.3 mm wide, orientated in several directions; dark-brown to brown. Pseudocyphellae present in small numbers on main lobes, 0.3 × 0.1 mm, slightly depressed, more frequent on smaller lobes, slightly depressed or flat. Projections scattered, 0.1–0.2 mm long. Cilia scattered, 0.5–1 mm long. Apothecia occasional to rare, 2–5(–8) mm diam. Asci 50–60 × 7.5–11 μm. Ascospores ellipsoidal, axial body c. 1 μm, maximum tholus thickness 2–5 μm. Paraphyses 50–60 × 1–1.5 μm. Pycnidia 150–170 × 130–150 μm, cortical tissue present beneath pycnidia. Conidia oblong-citriform, 5–6 × 1–1.5 μm.

Chemistry : Medulla and pseudocyphellae K−, KC−, C−, Pd−, UV−; containing lichesterinic and protolichesterinic acids.

S: Otago (Otamatapaio River, Central Otago mountains). In exposed summit grasslands, cushion vegetation and fellfield, often intermixed with C. aculeata. Still rather poorly known in New Zealand. Known also from the Northern Hemisphere where it is a circumpolar, arctic-alpine species, from Macaronesia, Ethiopia, South Africa, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, the Falkland Is and the South Shetland Is (Kärnefelt 1986: 70, fig. 39).

Bipolar

Illustrations : Kärnefelt (1986: 50–51, fig. 25; 69, fig. 38); Wirth (1987: 167; 1995b: 269); Krog et al. (1994: 174); McCune & Geiser (1997: 98).

Cetraria muricata may be confused with C. aculeata (see under that species) or with exposed forms of Cladia aggregata, but the internal anatomy and the chemistry of this latter species is quite different. For differences from closely related taxa see Thell et al. (2002: 284, tab. 1).