Flora of New Zealand Series

≡Lichen flavorubescens Huds, Fl. angl.: 443 (1762).

=Lecanora inclinans Stirt., Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 14: 463 (1875).

≡Callopisma inclinans (Stirt.) Müll.Arg., Bull. Herb. Boissier 2, App. 1: 51 (1894).

≡Caloplaca inclinans (Stirt.) Hellb., Bihang K. Sv. Vet.-Akad. Handl. 21 (3/13): 68 (1896).

≡Pyrenodesmia inclinans (Stirt.) C.W.Dodge, B. A. N. Z. A. R. E. Repts, Ser. B, 7: 230 (1948).

Caloplaca inclinans. Type: New Zealand. Wellington, J. Buchanan – ? GLAM. No authentic material found in either BM or WELT.

Description : Thallus crustose, granular-scurfy, yellow-green to greyish white, often indistinct. Apothecia sessile, constricted at base, crowded to somewhat dispersed, rounded to deformed through mutual pressure, (0.1–)0.5–1.5 mm diam., disc orange-red to pale yellowish orange, matt, epruinose, plane to convex, margins persistent, entire to subcrenulate, pale whitish, concolorous with thallus. Epithecium granular, yellow, 8–20 μm thick. Hymenium colourless, 65–75(–80) μm tall, with oil droplets (often abundant) in lower parts. Paraphyses slender, 1.5–2 μm thick, apices slightly swollen, to 3–4 μm diam., submoniliform and sometimes furcate. Asci cylindrical, 55–65 × 11–13.5 μm, 8-spored. Ascospores broadly ellipsoidal to ovoid, apices rounded or pointed, (12–)15–16.5(–18.3) × 6.5–8.5 μm; septum 7–8.5 μm thick to ½ length of spore.

Chemistry : Thallus and apothecia K+ violet-red; containing parietin.

N: Auckland (Henderson), Wellington. S: Canterbury (Rangitata River Mouth, Milford), Otago (Teviot, Roxburgh, Pomahaka River). Sn: On bark and twigs of introduced and native trees (Olearia odorata, Salix), often in Xanthorion communities. It is an extremely variable species (see Nimis 1993: 168). Known also from Great Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, India, China, North America and Australia (Laundon 1976, 1992; Nimis 1993; Poelt & Hinteregger 1993; Santesson 1993; Esslinger & Egan 1995; Scholz 2000; Brodo et al. 2001; Coppins & Fletcher 2001g; McCarthy 2003c, 2006; Nimis & Martellos 2003; Santesson et al. 2004).

Cosmopolitan

Illustrations : Moberg & Holmåsen (1982: 185); Brodo et al. (2001: 201, pl. 165); Lumbsch et al. (2001: 11 – as Caloplaca inclinans).

Caloplaca flavorubescens is characterised by: the corticolous habit: the pale, grey-white, scurfy-granular thallus; crowded to dispersed apothecia, to 1.5 mm diam., disc orange-red to pale yellowish orange, with a persistent, entire to subcrenulate margin, concolorous with thallus; and broadly ellipsoidal to ovoid ascospores, (12–)15–16.5(–18.3) × 6.5–8.5 μm; septum 7–8.5 μm thick.

Nomenclature of this species is discussed in Laundon (1976: 147–149). See also notes on European forms in Giralt et al. (1992) and Coppins & Fletcher (2001f). Apothecial discs are sometimes parasitised by * Lichenodiplis lecanorae (q.v.). In the Northern Hemisphere some populations have thalli parasitised by * Marchandiomyces corallinus (Coppins & Fletcher 2001f).