Pulchrocladia retipora
Common name
Coral lichen
Synonyms
Baeomyces retiporus, Cladia retipora, Cladonia retipora
Family
Cladoniaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Fruticose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO
Distribution
Occurs widely throughout New Zealand, being particularly common on subalpine peat bogs.
North Island: Northland to Wellington. South Island: Nelson to Southland. Stewart Island. Chatham Islands. Auckland Islands. Campbell Island. Antarctica.
Also in SE Australia and New Caledonia.
Habitat
On peaty soils, among tussocks or low vegetation in Leptospermum and Dracophyllum heaths, at margins of Fuscospora/Lophozonia forest, in fellfield, more rarely on rocks, logs and sand dunes, s.l. to 1200 m. Often associated with the lichens Rexiella sullivanii, Cladonia confusa, and Stereocaulon ramulosum.
Detailed description
Thallus large, robust, coralloid, in cushions 10-100 cm diam., terricolous or muscicolous. Primary thallus nodular, white, evanescent. Pseudopodetia dying at base, robust or slender, 1.5-5 mm diam., 2-5(-8) cm tall, white, pale greyish or faintly yellowish, often tinged pinkish and/or superficially blackened, pliant and spongy when wet, brittle when dry, cortex continuous, walls uniformly clathrate from base to apex, in 3-8 series forming an even network, perforations 5-11 per cm in each series. Medulla thin, white, arachnoid, loosely filling central canal, at apices of pseudopodetia visible as thin strands (×10 lens). Apothecia minute, black, peltate, crowded on apical branchlets.
Chemistry: Thallus K− or + yellow, C−, KC− or KC+ orange, Pd−; containing usnic protolichesterinic, ursolic, rangiformic and norrangiformic acids, atranorin, and unidentified terpenoids and other compounds.
Substrate
Terricolous
It is of considerable beauty, closely resembling lace or coral and is occasionally used in floral decoration, and in architectural models.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Melissa Hutchison (30 August 2021). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features, and Extra information 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. 2002. LICHEN PROFILE: Cladia retipora (Labill.) Nyl. Botanical Society of Otago 32. 4–9.
Galloway D.J. 2007: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens, including lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi. 2nd edition. Lincoln, Manaaki Whenua Press. 2261 pp.