Pannaria xanthomelana
Synonyms
Psoroma xanthomelanum
Family
Pannariaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Foliose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
Characterised by the corticolous (rarely terricolous) habit; the lobate–foliose thallus attached by a thick, black prothallus of entangled, black, simple to squarrose rhizines; flat lobes, 2–4 mm wide, ±dichotomously branched at apices which are sometimes lobulate, white-pubescent to blackened and with projecting, black prothallus; a greenish grey to mustard-yellow, glossy or waxy upper surface; conspicuous placodioid-lobed, bright-blue cephalodia developed marginally and laminally; laminal and marginal apothecia, clustered in conglomerate groups, 1–3 mm diam., the discs, pale to dark red-brown or blackened, faintly white-pruinose, often perforate centrally, and/or with concentric ridges or lobules of thalline tissue; subglobose ascospores, 11–16 μm diam.; and a chemistry containing pannarin. It has a green alga as major photobiont.
Distribution
North Island: South Auckland (Waipakihi Valley), Wellington (Ruahine Ra., Tararua Ra.). South Island: Nelson (Cobb Valley, West Bay, Lake Rotoiti), Canterbury (Margaret’s Tarn Arthur’s Pass), Southland (Borland Saddle). Stewart Island: (Port Pegasus). Auckland Islands: (Enderby Is.). Campbell Island: (Mt Honey, Mowbray Hill).
Habitat
Primarily a species of Fuscospora forest and on twigs of understorey shrubs. On mossy peat and in rock crevices in fellfield in subantarctic habitats.
Detailed description
Thallus lobate-foliose, of elongated laciniae, stellate-radiating, 3-7(-12) cm diam., margins ± free, attached by a thick, black prothallus of entangled, black, simple to squarrose rhizines. Lobes ± flat, 2-4 mm wide, ± dichotomously branched at apices, margins slightly thickened, entire to ± lobulate, white-pubescent to blackened, with rhizines often projecting beyond margins. Upper surface greenish, mustard-yellow, pale whitish at margins, occasionally blue-black in places, smooth, glossy, waxy, finely white-pubescent at margins. Cephalodia infrequent, placodioid-lobed, bright blue when wet, yellowish to bluish when dry, often white-pruinose at margins, smooth, wrinkled-plicate, 1-3 mm wide, rather large, developed at margins and spreading over lamina. Apothecia common, laminal and marginal, subpedicellate, round to irregular, often clustered in conglomerate, contorted groups, 1-3 mm wide, disc ± consistently centrally perforate, often also with secondary, partial or complete concentric ridges or lobules of thalline tissue, disc pale red-brown to dark brown or blackened, with well-developed, uneven concentric ridges, ± faint pruinose, margins thick, crenate-striate, concolorous with thallus or blackened. Ascospores subglobose 11-16 µm diam.
Substrate
Corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (5 July 2021). Information in the Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features and Similar taxa sections copied from Galloway (1985; 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.