Scytinium kauaiense
Synonyms
Collema kauaiense H.Magn.
Family
Collemataceae
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
Characterised by the corticolous habit; the small to medium (3–4 cm diam.) thalli; densely isidiate lobes and lobe margins, the isidia globular to styliform to squamiform, and sometimes very small and soredia-like; and an absence of apothecia.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Kerikeri), Auckland (Waitakere Ranges), Wellington (Palmerston North, Tararua Ranges.). South Island: Westland (Punakaiki, Greymouth), Canterbury (Port Hills Christchurch, Peel Forest), Otago (Merton). Coastal and inland, widely distributed.
Known also from Sri Lanka, the Philippines, East Africa, South Africa, the United States including Hawai’i, and Australia.
Habitat
On both introduced (*Liriodendron, *Populus, *Salix) and native (Cordyline, Hoheria) trees and shrubs, from forest to gardens and parks.
Detailed description
Thallus to 3(-4) cm diam., foliose, rounded to somewhat irregular, rather difficult to distinguish individuals, deeply and broadly lobate, adnate or partly ascending, ± thin, of about uniform thickness, smooth or in part subpustulate, pale to dark olive-green, matt or somewhat glossy, isidiate. Isidia marginal and laminal, numerous, dense (laminal isidia sometimes in darkish spots) at first ± globular, soon elongate to squamiform, concolorous with thallus, simple or slightly branched. Lobes few, rounded to ± elongate, imbricate, 2-4(-10) mm broad, undivided or somewhat lobulate, usually ascending and undulate at margins, margins entire or densely isidiate. Apothecia absent in New Zealand material, in other parts of the the species range, sparse to numerous, laminal, sessile with a constricted base, to 1.6 mm diam., disc plane, red, whitish-pruinose, pruina thin to very thin or disappearing, thalline margin thin, entire, smooth or uneven or ± isidiate, persistent to ± disappearing. Ascospores 4 per ascus, monostichous to distichous, imbricate, fusiform, straight or slightly curved, with acute and sometimes extended apices, (4-)5-6-celled, (28-)30-36 × (6.5-)7-8.5 µm.
Substrate
Corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (15 February 2022). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features, and Similar taxa 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.