Usnea oncodes Stirt.
Lectotype: New Zealand. Wellington. J. Buchanan, BM! Isotypes in GLAM, WELT!
Thallus fruticose, pendulous or subpendulous, 8-10 cm long, glaucous-olivaceous, suffused reddish, becoming reddish-brown on storage, rather sparsely branched, corticolous. Primary branches distinctly articulate-constricted, soon becoming inflated, to 2 mm diam., thinner at apices, rarely transversely cracked, terete, ± faveolate, glabrous, smooth or occasionally wrinkled, with few to many scattered, white, plane (rarely excavate) pseudocyphellae, rarely papillate towards base, sorediate. Secondary branches rather few. Soralia efflorescent, convex, often confluent and completely investing branches, most marked at apices, soredia yellowish-white, farinose. Apothecia not seen. Chemistry: Salazinic and usnic acids.
N: North Auckland (Poor Knights Is) to Wellington. Mainly lowland and coastal on native and introduced trees and shrubs.
Endemic
The taxa U. perplexans Stirton, and U. constrictula Stirton, reported from Wellington by James Stirton [ T.N.Z.I. 30: 388 (1898)] are both referable to U. oncodes.
