Parasiphula foliacea
Family
Coccotremataceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Foliose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
Characterised by the terricolous habit; thin, fragile, rather broad lobes; surface pale buff-green or yellowish fawn to creamish fawn, never suffused reddish at margins or apices, texture roughened to verrucose-areolate (×10 lens) on one side and ±smooth on the other; and no secondary compounds.
Distribution
North Island: South Auckland (Moehau, Coromandel Range, Kauaeranga Gorge), Wellington (Mokai Patea Ruahine Range, Ruapehu, Waiopehu, Tararua Range). South Island: Nelson (Denniston Plateau, Mt Augustus, Stockton Plateau), Canterbury (Arthur’s Pass, Mt Peel), Otago (Mt Brewster Haast Pass, Wills Valley, Stag Pass, Forgotten River, Fohn Saddle, Park Pass, Ocean Peak Humboldt Mts, North Branch Routeburn, North Col, Sugarloaf Saddle, Kea Basin, The Remarkables, Hector Mts, Pisa Range, Old Man Range, Garvie Mountains, Rock and Pillar Range), Southland (Doubtful Sound, Cascade Cove Dusky Sound, Snag Burn Murchison Mountains, Lake Wapiti).
Known also from Tasmania.
Habitat
On damp, alpine, gravelly or sandy soils or in peat, often inundated, among mosses, 305–2,045 m. It occurs in rock crevices, and on soils subject to periodic inundation, often growing intermixed with species of Andreaea and Siphula fragilis.
Detailed description
Thallus lobes broad, rounded, rather fragile, thin, undulate, margins entire, rounded, very slightly thickened. Surface pale buff-green or yellowish- or creamish-fawn, never suffused reddish, roughened, minutely but distinctly verrucose-areolate (×10 lens) on one side and ± smooth on the other, often crowded together in dense clumps.
Chemistry: TLC−, all reactions negative.
Similar taxa
Parasiphula foliacea is similar to P. fragilis and is often sympatric with it in some habitats, but has thicker lobes, a roughened surface, and is never suffused reddish.
Substrate
Terricolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (16 February 2024). 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.