Flora of New Zealand Series

Lichen muscorum Scop., Fl. carn. ed. 2, 2: 365 (1772).

Thallus creamish-fawn, greyish-brown or greyish, uneven, warted or hummocky, 1-4 cm diam., on soil, mosses or plant debris. Apothecia urceolate, common, crowded, disc 0.2-0.8 mm diam., black, ± pruinose, margins swollen, inflexed, concolorous with thallus, often rugose-plicate. Ascospores 4 per ascus, pale to dark brown 20-30 × 9-15 µm. Chemistry: Thallus K+ yellow, C+ red. Diploschistesic and lecanoric acids.

S: Canterbury (Lake Tekapo), Otago (Upper Shotover Valley, Taieri Mouth). On soil amongst tussocks on river flats, alpine or subalpine or coastal. Probably more widely distributed east of the Main Divide in South I.

Cosmopolitan