Flora of New Zealand Series

Description : Basal squamules evanescent to persistent and crowded in a mat, sometimes very large, 1–3(–8) mm diam., thick and leathery, margins crenulate to irregularly lobed, conspicuous, brownish or red-brown to greyish, smooth to minutely wrinkled or areolate-scabrid above, blackened to grey-white-striate, or completely white, esorediate below. Podetia 2–9 cm tall, 2–6 mm diam., pale grey-white or greenish or pale blue-grey to suffused dark red-brown, smooth to somewhat shallowly lumpy or ±faveolate to alate, continuous to areolate, minutely pruinose or velvety to scabrid, simple to sparingly branched, sometimes with small, irregular branches at right angles to main stem, without squamules or squamules occasionally present near base, apices subulate to occasionally cup-forming. Cups 0–3 per podetium, 2–5 mm wide, regular or irregular with 10–15(–30) marginal teeth, margins often producing short-stalked, narrow, secondary cups and longer proliferations. Apothecia infrequent, 1–3 mm wide, dark-brown to blackish, sessile on cup margins. Pycnidia common, scattered towards base of podetia and on Basal squamules, dark-brown to black, constricted at base.

Chemistry : K+ weak yellow or −, C−, KC−, Pd+ red; containing atranorin (major), fumarprotocetraric (major) and protocetraric (tr.) acids.

S: Nelson (St Arnaud Ra.), Westland (Great Unknown tarns, Barlow River, upper Otira Valley, Stag Pass Red Hills), Marlborough (Raglan Ra.), Canterbury (Mt Olympus Craigieburn Ra., Mt Cook National Park, Mueller Hut, Ben Ohau Ra., Kirkliston Ra.), Otago (Mt Brewster, Arawata Saddle, Homestead Peak West Matukituki Valley, Fohn Saddle, Fiery Peak, Olivine Ledge, N Branch of Routeburn, North Col., Rockburn, Mt Erebus, Cosmos Ra., Bride Burn, Ocean Peak, Mt Minos Humboldt Mts, Dart Valley, St Bathans Ra., Lake Mackay Pisa Ra., Dunstan Mts, Remarkables, Hector Mts, Coronet Peak, Garvie Mts, Old Man Ra., Hawkdun Ra., Rock & Pillar Ra., Lammermoor Ra., Mt Pisgah Kakanui Mts), Southland (above Cascade Cove, Dusky Sound). St: (Tin Ra., Fraser Peaks). Fairly common in alpine tussock grassland and on weathered schist and greywacke soils, in exposed fellfield pavement and alpine herbfield, in snowbanks (where podetia are often rather stunted and curved), and boggy grassland bordering alpine tarns, 1400–2300 m. Commonly associating with Cladonia aueri, C. confusa, C. mitis, Hypogymnia lugubris, Micarea austroternaria, Thamnolia vermicularis and a further addition to the bipolar element (Galloway & Aptroot 1995) of New Zealand's high-alpine lichen mycobiota. Known also from Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, North America, Australia, Tasmania, Macquarie I. (Ahti 1980b; Filson & Archer 1986; Archer 1992b; McCarthy 2003c, 2006). In the Northern Hemisphere C. ecmocyna is essentially a species of arctic and oroarctic alpine snowbed communities (Ahti 1980b: 227).

Bipolar

Illustrations : Ahti (1980b: 228, fig. 24); Thomson (1984: 132); Filson & Archer (1986: 225, fig. 7); Krog et al. (1994: 156); Hansen (1995: 28); St. Clair (1999: 60).

Cladonia ecmocyna is characterised by: usually subulate podetia; usually evanescent basal squamules; esorediate; thickly corticate podetia; the cortex sometimes bluish, and also the dull (never glossy), delicately white-pruinose to scabrid (×10 lens); generally unbranched but with adventitious branches arising from decumbent podetia; the robust habit of the whole lichen; the strong presence of atranorin (K+ yellow) which has a characteristic pungent to musty odour when dried specimens are smelled (strongly reminiscent of old paper in long-unopened books) [Prof. Sam Hammer pers. comm.]. Nomenclatural problems surrounding the superfluous name Cladonia ecmocyna (Ach.) Nyl., and the typification of C. ecmocyna Leight., are discussed in Ahti (1978: 12) and Ahti (1980b: 223–224).