Punctelia subrudecta
Family
Parmeliaceae
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
A very polymorphic species, with a pale lower surface; non-pseudocyphellate lobe margins; round to slightly elongate and often sparse pseudocyphellae; mainly laminal soralia, and marginal soralia absent or present only at the sinuses of secondary lobes.
Distribution
North Island: Northland to Wellington. South Island: Nelson to Southland. Stewart Island.
Known also from Great Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, North and South America, and Australia.
Habitat
Widespread in lowland (rural and urban) habitats – common on introduced trees in parks, gardens and on farms, on decorticated wood (fence posts, railings and gates) and on rock, especially in eutrophicated (high nitrogen) and polluted environments. A good indicator of disturbed and eutrophicated habitats.
Detailed description
Thallus orbicular to spreading, loosely attached, 5-10(-15) cm diam., corticolous or saxicolous. Lobes rounded, dissected, crowded, margins sinuous, entire, darkening, becoming sorediate. Upper surface greenish-grey to greenish-blue, matt, shining at margins which are often suffused brownish, conspicuously wrinkled, with scattered, punctiform pseudocyphellae towards centre, becoming copiously sorediate. Soredia irregular, coarse, granular, greenish-brown to blackish, derived from pseudocyphellae. Lower surface pale yellowish-buff or buff-brown or whitish, smooth or wrinkled, shining, sparsely rhizinate. Rhizines simple, pale, often to the margins. Apothecia maculae and pycnidia not seen in New Zealand material.
Chemistry: Cortex K+ yellow; medulla K-, C+ red, KC+ red, Pd-. Lecanoric acid and atranorin.
Similar taxa
Punctelia subrutecta is related to P. borreri, but differing in the pale lower surface; the distinctly non-pseudocyphellate margins to the lobes; round to slightly elongate and often sparse pseudocyphellae; mainly laminal soralia, marginal soralia absent or present only at sinuses of secondary lobes; and in having lecanoric acid as major medullary constituent. Conidia in this species are very short and unciform (4–6 μm long), a character that distinguishes it from P. perrecticulata.
Substrate
Corticolous, saxicolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (15 September 2021). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features, and Similar taxa sections copied from Galloway (1985) & Galloway (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.
Longán A., Barbero M., and Gómez-Bolea A. 2000: Comparative studies on Punctelia borreri, P. perreticulata and P. subrudecta Parmeliaceae, lichenized Ascomycotina from the Iberian Peninsula. Mycotax 74(2): 367-378.