Phaeophyscia hispidula
Synonyms
Parmelia hispidula
Family
Physciaceae
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 corticolous/terricolous/saxicolus habit; the loosely adnate thallus with broadly rounded, ascending lobe apices; the conspicuous, projecting, black rhizines; and laminal (capitate) and marginal soralia.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Whangarei), Auckland (Auckland city), South Auckland (Glenbrook), Taranaki (New Plymouth). South Island: Nelson (Maruia Valley), Otago (Lake Wanaka, Luggate, Dunedin), Southland (Awarua). Stewart Island.
Known also from Europe, North America, East and South Africa, Thailand, and Australia.
Habitat
On corrugated asbestos of factory roofs (fertiliser works in Whangarei, New Plymouth and Awarua), soil overlying rock, and both introduced and native trees.
Detailed description
Thallus 2-4(-8) cm diam., irregularly spreading, not rosette-forming, ± loosely attached. Lobes irregular, 2-4 mm wide, flat to concave, ± canaliculate centrally, apices conspicuously upturned. Upper surface smooth, dark greenish-brown or greenish grey and in parts superficially blackened, soralia laminal, indistinctly delimited, soredia granular, greenish, often superficially blackened. Lower surface black, densely rhizinate. Rhizines simple, 1-3 mm long, projecting beyond lobe margins. Apothecia: infrequent, up to 2 mm in diam., sessile; margin: entire or sometimes irregularly crenate, often bearing a dense corona of rhizines ascospores: ellipsoid, 18-25(-28) x 7-12(14) µm, Physcia-type.
Chemistry: TLC−, all reactions negative.
Substrate
Corticolous, saxicolous, terricolous, artificial (corrugated asbestos roofs)
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (18 February 2022). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, and Features 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.