Flora of New Zealand Series

≡Coniocybe gracillima Vain., Meddn Soc. Faun. Fl. fenn. 6: 97 (1881).

Descriptions : Flora (1985: 146 – as Coniocybe gracillima); Tibell (1987: 102).

Chemistry : Thallus K−, C−, KC−, Pd−; mazedium containing a quinonoid-like pigment dissolving in K and producing feather- to plate-like violet-red crystals (Tibell 1987).

N: Northland (Omahuta State Forest) to Wellington (Ohakune). S: Nelson (Lake Rotoroa) to Southland (Longwood Ra.). On lignum of beech (Nothofagus fusca, N. menziesii, N. solandri), kaikawaka and totara in shaded, humid sites, 350–1310 m. A widespread species in cool temperate and temperate regions of both hemispheres (Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, North America, Australia, Central and South America) and from high altitudes in Africa (Tibell 1999c: 35; McCarthy 2003c, 2006; Hermansson & Pystina 2004).

Cosmopolitan

Exsiccati : Tibell (1982: No. 66 – as Coniocybe gracillima).

Illustrations : Tibell (1987: 104, fig. 70; 1996b: 31, fig. 19E; 1999c: 84); Goward (1999: 81, fig. 16A).

Chaenotheca gracillima is characterised by: its long, slender apothecia with small capitula, and the presence of a reddish brown pruina on the upper part of the stalk and on the lower side of the exciple.