Acarospora glaucocarpa
≡Parmelia glaucocarpa Ach., Methodus: 182 (1803).
Description : Thallus areolate, very variable; areolae scattered, rounded or angular to lobate, contiguous or overlapping, 0.5–4 mm diam., flat or convex, rather thick, pale brown-grey, smooth to roughened, partially or entirely blue-grey-pruinose. Apothecia few to abundant, 0.5–2(–4) mm diam., rounded to sublobulate, at times almost entirely occupying individual areolae, disc flat or concave, concolorous with thallus or slightly darker, generally thickly blue-grey-pruinose; thalline margins raised, swollen. Hymenium 60–80(–100) μm tall. Ascospores 4–8 × 1.5–3 μm.
Chemistry : TLC−, all reactions negative.
S: Canterbury (Weka Pass). On limestone in railway cutting. Known also from Great Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, Svalbard, North America (Magnusson 1929, 1936; Purvis et al. 1992; Nimis 1993; Santesson 1993; Esslinger & Egan 1995; Elvebakk & Hertel 1997; Coppins 2002b; Nimis & Martellos 2003).
Bipolar
Illustrations : Magnusson (1936: 212, fig. 42); Ozenda & Clauzade (1970: 504, fig. 418); Wirth (1987: 37); Foucard (1990: pl. 6); Dobson (2005: 52).
Acarospora glaucocarpa is characterised by: the saxicolous (limestone) habit; the pale brown-grey, scattered, irregular to sublobulate, contiguous to imbricate areolae that are often densely blue-grey-pruinose; large apothecia (similar in size to areolae), with densely blue-grey-pruinose discs.
