Sphaerophorus
Type : Sphaerophorus coralloides Pers.nom illeg., =Lichen globiferus L., typ. cons. [=Sphaerophorus globosus (Huds.) Vain. (=Lichen globosus Huds.)]
Description : Thallus terete, sometimes weakly dorsiventral, usually richly branched, forming extensive colonies, cushions or patches, brownish to pale greyish or whitish. Branching anisotomic dichotomous, generally with bundles of short, coralloid branchlets (phyllocladia). Cortex 60–200 μm thick. Ascomata apothecia, terminal, spherical, immersed in the branches, ontogeny hemiangiocarpic; the thalline exciple being ±completely lost when ascospores are released from the asci. Mazedia apical, ±surrounded by irregular flaps of thalline tissue Asci cylindrical, Calicium -type, with uniseriate ascospores, disintegrating before ascospores mature. Ascospores globose to broadly ellipsoidal, 7–13 × 6–11 μm, bluish or reddish blue at first, black and thickly ornamented when mature, ornamentation formed within asci. Conidiomata pycnidia, developed on tips of terminal branches, ostiolate, black. Conidiophores branched with both terminal and intercalary conidiogenous cells. Conidia simple, colourless, ellipsoidal to obovate, 3–4.5 × 1.5– 2 μm.
Chemistry : Sphaerophorin in all species together with β-orcinol depsides.
Sphaerophorus is a widely distributed (bipolar) genus of three species (Tibell & Ryan 2004e), included in the family Sphaerophoraceae (Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005). One species is found exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere [S. fragilis (L.) Pers.], one species [S. globosus (Huds.) Vain.] occurs widely in the Northern Hemisphere and is also represented in southern South America, the Falkland Is, South Georgia, South Orkney Is, South Shetland Is and the Antarctic Peninsula to c. 65ºS (Øvstedal & Lewis Smith 2001), and one species is endemic to New Zealand. The genus is discussed in detail in Tibell (1987, 1999c) and Wedin (1993a, 1995a). Many Southern Hemisphere species formerly included in Sphaerophorus are now accommodated in Bunodophoron (q.v.) and Leifidium (q.v.) (Wedin 1993a, 1995a).
