Flora of New Zealand Series

Description : Thallus corticolous, discontinuous, of scattered, convex verrucae, whitish to greenish or red-brown, without a prothallus. Apothecia lecanorine, sessile, constricted at base, irregularly rounded, scattered, 0.3–0.5 mm diam.; disc dark reddish brown to black, plane, epruinose. Thalline margin concolorous with thallus, prominent, smooth, entire to flexuous. Parathecium laterally 15–20 μm thick, expanding to 40 μm above, hyaline, or brownish in upper parts. Hymenium colourless, 60–80 μm tall; epithecium red-brown, 10 μm thick. Hypothecium colourless, to 70 μm thick. Paraphyses to 2 μm thick, apices swollen, 3–5 μm diam., with a red-brown cap. Ascospores Physcia -type, spore ontogeny type A, smooth to minutely warted, not or slightly constricted at septum, torus well-developed, (12–)14–16(–18) × 7–9 μm. Pycnidia immersed. Conidia bacillar, 5–7 × 1 μm.

Chemistry : TLC−, all reactions negative.

S: Canterbury (Dog Stream Hanmer). On bark and twigs of Malus domestica, still very poorly known in New Zealand. Known also from montane regions in central and southern Europe, Scandinavia and Siberia (Magnusson 1947; Ropin & Mayrhofer 1993; Giralt & Mayrhofer 1995; Mayrhofer & Moberg 2002b; Nimis & Martellos 2003).

Cosmopolitan

Illustrations : Giralt & Mayrhofer (1995: 132, fig. 3C); Edler (2002: 59, fig. 17); Nordic Lichen Flora Vol. 2 (2002: 107).

Rinodina septentrionalis is characterised by: the corticolous habit; red-brown thallus of scattered, convex verrucae; the small, sessile, basally constricted apothecia with persistent thalline margins and plane discs; red-brown epithecium; Physcia -type ascospores with a well-developed torus, (12–)14–16(–18) × 7–9 μm.