Cladonia elixii
Holotype: New Zealand. Canterbury, Boyle River, 0.5 km E of Boyle River Alpine Lodge, 42º31's, 172º23'E, 600 m, in Kunzea ericoides – Leptospermum scoparium scrubland on sandy river terraces, 1981, T. Ahti 36859 – H; isotype – CHR.
Description : Primary thallus evanescent of very minute, esorediate, greyish white squamules 0.1–2 mm diam. Podetia 20–50 mm tall, brownish white with a slight yellowish tint, not blackening at base, very thin, 0.3–1 mm wide, flexuose, almost unbranched to sparingly branched, axils closed or open. Surface slightly corticate at base, generally ecorticate, granular-sorediate, granules corticate in part, readily turning brownish, loosely attached, interspersed with microsquamules, especially near base. Apothecia at apices of branches, solitary or compound, 1–2 mm wide, pale ochraceous to dark-brown. Ascospores not seen. Pycnidia solitary at tips of podetia, cylindrical, dark-brown. Conidia not seen.
Chemistry : Thallus K−, Pd−; containing usnic acid (sometimes tr. only), barbatic, 4- O -demethyl barbatic acid (tr.), fatty acids (tr.) and unidentified compounds.
S: Nelson (Speargrass Flat, Maruia Valley), Canterbury (Boyle River, near Tasman Glacier, terminal moraine). In moist grassland on river banks, in open woodland and on moraine detritus, still very poorly known and collected.
?Endemic
Illustration : Ahti et al. (2001: 10, fig. 1).
Cladonia elixii is characterised by: its slender, somewhat branched habit, and the presence of barbatic acid as major secondary metabolite.
