Phyllopsora furfuracea
Synonyms
Lecidea furfuracea
Family
Ramalinaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | Data Deficient | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
Characterised by the corticolous habit; its small, isidiate squamules; apothecia with a yellow-brown to orange crystalline material; medium-sized ascospores; and furfuracein.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Three Kings Islands), Wellington (Greatford) (Galloway 2007). Also observed in the Waikatō (near Huntly) (Hutchison 2022). South Island: Recently recorded in Canterbury (Pigeon Bay, Banks Peninsula) (Knight 2019). Still very poorly collected in New Zealand.
Pantropical. Known also from North, Central and South America, the Caribbean, East Africa, Madagascar, Thailand, Java, and Australia.
Habitat
On coastal Metrosideros excelsa and Melicytus. Also recorded on tree privet (*Ligustrum lucidum) in the Waikatō (Hutchison 2022).
Detailed description
Thallus effuse, formed by prothallus and partly by minute areolae that often fuse and form a continuous crust, and partly by isidia developing directly from prothallus, isidia often dominating. Prothallus indistinct to well-developed, white to reddish brown. Areolae adnate, to 0.1 mm diam., isodiametric, plane to weakly convex, medium-green to dark-green, glabrous or rarely pubescent at margins. Isidia usually abundant, medium-thick, often long, medium-green to dark-green, often with a brownish tinge, glabrous, simple to coralloid-branched. Apothecia common, to 2 mm diam., round to irregular, usually conglomerate, convex, pale-brown to dark reddish brown, immarginate or with an indistinct often slightly paler, glabrous or pubescent margin. Exciple pale-brown, containing colourless crystals, dissolving in K. Hypothecium with yellow-brown to orange crystals, dissolving and diffusing pale-yellow to red or purple in K. Hymenium yellow-brown, 60–70 μm. Ascospores simple, cylindrical to short-fusiform, (6–)9–12 × 2–2.5 μm.
Chemistry: Furfuracein (Brako 1991: 46).
Substrate
Corticolous
Etymology
furfuracea: From the Latin furfur ‘bran’ or ‘dandruff’, referring to the mealy, scurfy covering on the leaves and stems.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Melissa Hutchison (15 June 2023). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, and Features sections copied from Galloway (2007).
References and further reading
Brako L. 1991: Phyllopsora (Bacidiaceae). Flora Neotropica, Monograph 55: 1-66.
Galloway D.J. 2007: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens, including lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi. 2nd edition. Lincoln, Manaaki Whenua Press. 2261 pp.
Hutchison M. 2022: iNaturalist observation. https://inaturalist.nz/observations/108482696. Date accessed: 15 June 2023.
Knight A. 2019: iNaturalist observation. https://inaturalist.nz/observations/24489084. Date accessed: 15 June 2023.