Cladonia pleurota
Synonyms
Capitularia pleurota
Family
Cladoniaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Fruticose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
The presence of iso-usnic acid and the partly corticate, somewhat bluish scyphose podetia with a somewhat felty cortex distinguish C. pleurota from other red-fruited, cup-forming species of Cladonia in New Zealand.
Distribution
North Island: South Auckland (Mt Moehau), Gisborne (Napier). South Island: Nelson (Balloon Creek), Marlborough (Raglan Range), Westland (upper Otira Valley), Marlborough (Mt Fishtail), Canterbury (E of Lewis Pass, Hanmer, Poulter Valley, Woolshed Hill, Mt Binser, Black Hills Rakaia Valley, Hooker Valley, Liebig Range, Ben Ohau Range), Otago (Mt Brewster, Cameron Flat Makarora, Canyon Creek Ahuriri Valley, Mt Alta Matukituki Valley, Forgotten River, Key Summit, Park Pass, Mt Minos, Dredgeburn, Turret Head Mt Earnslaw, The Remarkables, Pisa Range, Old Man Range, St Bathans Range, Hawkdun Range, St Marys Range Mt Kyeburn, Mt Pisgah Kakanui Mts, Rock & Pillar Range, Umbrella Mts, Silver Peaks, Mt Charles Otago Peninsula, Maungatua, Blue Lake Garvie Mts, East Dome Garvie Mts), Southland (Pukerau, Makarewa, Seaward Bush, Awarua Bay, Cascade Cove Dusky Sound, Woodrow Burn Murchison Mts, Lake Hauroko, Lake Gunn). Stewart Island: (Fright Cove Port Pegasus). Campbell Island. Antipodes Islands.
Known also from Great Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, North, Central and South America, Oceania, Australia, Tasmania, Falkland Is, and Antarctica.
Habitat
Roadside banks, dry hillsides, peat soils, tussock grassland, dead tussock-bases, Leptospermum heath, on moss, rotting logs and sandy soil, s.l. to 2300 m.
Detailed description
Primary squamules persistent or disappearing, small to large, 1-7 × 5 mm, irregularly crenate-incised to lobed, upper surface yellowish to olivaceous or pale glaucescent, lower surface pale or brownish towards base, esorediate or with scattered granules below. Podetia variable, to 40 mm tall, usually much less, cups flaring gradually from base, goblet-shaped, regular and entire, or dentate-proliferate from margins, proliferations with apothecia or rarely with small cups, very occasionally with small cups developed at centre. Cortex yellowish to glaucescent, continuous to areolate or verrucose in lower parts, sorediate towards apices and inside; cups, soredia granular. Apothecia red, convex, at cup margins.
Chemistry: Cortex K-, KC+ yellow, Pd-. Usnic and porphyrilic acids, zeorin and ± bellidiflorin.
Similar taxa
The granular-sorediate to scaly interior of the cups of C. pleurota distinguish it from C. deformis, which has farinose-soredia in the interior of its cups.
Substrate
Terricolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (10 September 2021). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features and Similar taxa sections copied from Galloway (1985) & Galloway (2007).
References and further reading
Galloway D.J. 1985: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens. Wellington: PD Hasselberg, Government Printer. 662 pp.
Galloway D.J. 2007: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens, including lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi. 2nd edition. Lincoln, Manaaki Whenua Press. 2261 pp.