Ramalina canariensis
Common name
Inelegant strap lichen
Family
Ramalinaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Fruticose
Current conservation status
2018 | At Risk – Declining | Qualifiers: SO, Sp
Brief description
Characterised by the corticolous (rarely lignicolous/saxicolous) habit; palmate or irregular branching, the branches soft, splitting marginally as well as on lower surface to release soredia.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Omanaia River, Taupo Bay, Castle Peak; Poor Knights Islands, Tokatoka), Auckland, South Auckland (Kaiaua, Firth of Thames; near Barryville, Coromandel Peninsula, Waikato), Wellington (Wanganui, Manawatu). South Island: Otago (coastal). Chatham Islands (Te Whanga Lagoon, Wharekauri).
Cosmopolitan. Known also from coastal Britain and Ireland, Europe (W Mediterranean), N along Atlantic coast to Norway, and S to Macaronesia, South Africa, Australia, California, Mexico and South America.
Habitat
On mānawa (Avicennia marina subsp. australasica), pōhutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa), tōtara (Podocarpus totara var. totara), and old peach trees (Prunus persica*). Occasionally on coastal rocks and driftwood.
Detailed description
Thallus erect, 0.8–3.5 cm long, from a well-delimited holdfast, branching palmate or irregular. Branches 1–3.5(–5) mm wide, apices blunt and usually split, the margins separating. Surface matt, smooth to wrinkled, pale green to grey-green, often reticulately ridged. Soralia marginal and apical, developing with the separation of the upper and lower surfaces. Apothecia very rare, marginal or on the lobe surface. Ascospores 15-21 × ca 6 μm, broadly ellipsoidal or kidney-shaped.
Chemistry: medulla and soralia C–, K–, KC–, Pd–, UV± blue-white (usnic and divaricatic acids).
Substrate
Corticolous, occasionally saxicolous (on coastal rocks)
Etymology
ramalina: Meaning small branches, twiggy.
canariensis: From the Canary Islands
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (6 June 2021). Information in the Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, and Features, sections copied from Galloway (2007). Apothecia description adapted from Fungi of Great Britain and Ireland (Anon., unknown date).
References and further reading
Anon. Unknown date: Ramalina canariensis. Fungi of Great Britain and Ireland. http://fungi.myspecies.info/all-fungi/ramalina-canariensis
Galloway D.J. 2007: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens, including lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi. 2nd edition. Lincoln, Manaaki Whenua Press. 2261 pp.