Psoroma paleaceum
Synonyms
Psoroma hirsutulum
Family
Pannariaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
Characterised by the terricolous/graminicolous habit; the hairy, crustose thallus; apothecia with narrow, crenate margins furnished with long, silky, white hairs, a brown, epruinose disc; and simple, colourless, subglobose ascospores, 16–19 × 12–14 μm.
Distribution
North Island: Taranaki (Mt Taranaki). South Island: Nelson (Cobb Valley, Mt Arthur, St Arnaud Ra.), Marlborough (ridge between Resolution Bay and Ship Cove, Molesworth), Canterbury (Arthur’s Pass, Porter’s Pass, Hooker Valley), Otago (Routeburn Valley, Mt Earnslaw, Pisa Range, Dunstan Mts, Old Man Range, Poolburn, Raggedy Range, Lake Onslow, Rock & Pillar Range, Mt Pisgah, Maungatua, The Nuggets), Southland (Borland Saddle, West Dome). Stewart Island: (Glory Cove). Chatham Islands: (Moubray Hill).
Known also from New South Wales, Tasmania and Macquarie Island, Kerguelen, southern South America and Alaska. It is now known more widely in Iceland and Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden, Norway).
Habitat
A characteristic grassland species growing on dead tussock bases or over decumbent vegetation and litter, or on soil, s.l. (in the far south and in S Otago) to 2000 m.
Detailed description
Thallus minute, granular or hairy, greyish, amorphous, often disappearing, without any prothallus, squamules small, 0.5-1.0 mm diam., flattened-lobulate, glaucous grey, covered in long white, silky hairs, not often seen. Cephalodia not seen. Apothecia prominent, 1-2 mm diam., round, scattered, ± deeply cupuliform, disc red-brown, matt, smooth, continuous, not pruinose, without etching, fissures, or thalline lobules, margins crenate, thick, pale buff or greyish, densely covered with long, silky, white hairs. Ascospores 16-21 × 9-14 µm.
Chemistry: TLC−, all reactions negative.
Substrate
Terricolous, graminicolous.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (25 August 2021). 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.