Leptogidium contortum
Synonyms
Polychidium contortum
Family
Pannariaceae
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
Dark green, fruiticose lichen with fine, felt-like branches. Sometimes forms impressive, large ball-like thalli on twigs.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Te Paki Trig Bush, Mt Tutamoe [where it occurs rarely on twigs of Pinus radiata in a plantation], Kaiwaka Little Barrier Island), Auckland (Piha Gorge, Waitakere Ranges), South Auckland (King Country), Wellington (Taranaki Falls Tongariro National Park), Wellington (Snake Valley near Turangi). South Island: Nelson (Denniston, Stillwater), Marlborough (Ship Cove, Resolution Bay), Westland (Kellys Creek, Ross), Canterbury (Peel Forest), Otago (Barrier River), Southland (Dusky Sound). Stewart Island. Auckland Islands: Both E and W of the Main Divide.
Known also from Tasmania and recently reported from British Columbia, and Oregon.
Habitat
On twigs and bark (especially Dracophyllum, Kunzea and Leptospermum) in shaded, humid habitats, lowland to subalpine.
Leptogidium contortum, although not collected frequently, seems characteristic of successional vegetation at the margins of forest in areas of high rainfall, and frequent fog. It sometimes forms impressive, large ball-like thalli on the twigs of isolated Myrsine divaricata in riverflat grassland, where it associates with other cyanobacterial lichens such as Coccocarpia erythroxyli, C. palmicola, Coenogonium implexum, Degelia gayana, Erioderma sorediatum, E. leylandii, Fuscoderma amphibola, Pannaria euphylla, P. fulvescens, Physma chilense and Pseudocyphellaria hookeri.
Detailed description
Thallus fruticose, in felt-like clumps on bark or twigs to 3 cm diam., flaccid and ± spongy when wet, brittle when dry. Branches terete, rather fragile, very fine at apices, stouter (to 0.2 mm wide) below, branching ± dichotomous, but densely tangled and complex in older parts. Surface of branches smooth or slightly wrinkled, blue-green or blackish at apices, bluish-brown or tan below. Photobiont Scytonema. Apothecia frequent, lateral, to 1.5 mm diam., disc reddish-brown, subconvex, immarginate. Ascospores polymorphic, 9-13 × 1.5-7 µm.
Chemistry: Nil.
Substrate
Corticolous
There is some doubt, however, as to the North American taxon being conspecific with L. contortum from New Zealand.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (24 January 2022). 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.