Usnea capillacea Motyka
Holotype: New Zealand. Otago, Saddle Hill. J.S. Thomson, 1933, Herb. Motyka - not seen. Isotype CHR 343971!
Thallus pendulous 5-25(-40) cm long, soft, uniform pale yellowish-green or whitish, dull or shining, base somewhat indistinct, dichotomously to sympodially branched, axils straight, branches intricate, plicate, corticolous. Branches 0.7 mm thick, thinner at apices, jointed in parts, sometimes fractured, without secondary branchlets, spinules, isidia or soredia. Apothecia rare, on thicker branches, geniculate, sessile, minute, to 2 mm diam., disc plane, greenish, marginal ray-like branchlets few, exciple cupuliform, smooth. Ascospores 12 × 8 µm. Chemistry: Fumarprotocetraric and usnic acids.
N: Coromandel Peninsula, Kaimanawa Ra., Mt Egmont to Tararua Ra. S: Nelson to Fiordland. St: A characteristic canopy species especially in Nothofagus forests where the thickly-draped twigs are visually arresting, often from a great distance. The species seems more common east of the Main Divide and is a characteristic mist species near treeline.
Australasian
