Usnea capillacea
Common name
Mist lichen
Synonyms
Usnea articulata senso Galloway (2007)
Family
Parmeliaceae
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
Brief description
Characterised by the corticolous habit, the long, fine, soft, pendent branches, to 0.7 mm diam. at base and attenuating towards apices; the dichotomous to sympodial branching pattern; the absence of isidia, pseudocyphellae, papillae or soredia; and the presence of fumarprotocetraric acid.
Distribution
North Island: South Auckland (Coromandel Range, Kaimanawa Range), Taranakai (Mt Taranaki), Wellington (Tama Lakes, Tararua Range). South Island: Nelson (Cobb Valley, Mt Arthur, St Arnaud Range, Black Hill Lake Rotoiti, Lake Rotoroa), Marlborough (Ure River), Canterbury (Lewis Pass, Arthur’s Pass, Craigieburn Range, Porter’s Pass, Riccarton Bush, Mt Sinclair Banks Peninsula, Governor’s Bush, Ben Ohau Range, Mt Peel, Kirkliston Range), Otago (Mt Brewster, Rees Valley, Moke Lake, St Mary Range, Ben Nevis, Silver Peaks, Flagstaff, Mt Charles, Maungatua, Tautuku), Southland (Cascade Creek, Eglinton Valley, Pleasant Range, Monowai, Manapouri, Doubtful Sound Fiordland, Hauroko Burn, Waikaia Valley). Stewart Island: (Ulva Island). Campbell Island: (Filhol Peak, Lyall Ridge).
Known also from Great Britain, Europe, India, Africa, South-East Asia, Victoria, and Tasmania.
Habitat
A common forest canopy and treeline species and on twigs and branches of Fuscospora, and on Halocarpus bidwilii and Dracophyllum in subalpine scrub. A characteristic canopy species where the thickly draped twigs and branches are visually arresting, often from a great distance. The species seems most common East of the Main Divide and is a characteristic mist species at or near treeline.
Detailed description
Thallus pendulous 5-25(-40) cm long, soft, uniform pale yellowish-green or whitish, dull or shining, base somewhat indistinct, dichotomously to sympodially branched, axils straight, branches intricate, plicate, corticolous. Branches 0.7 mm thick, thinner at apices, jointed in parts, sometimes fractured, without secondary branchlets, spinules, isidia or soredia. Apothecia rare, on thicker branches, geniculate, sessile, minute, to 2 mm diam., disc plane, greenish, marginal ray-like branchlets few, exciple cupuliform, smooth. Ascospores 12 × 8 µm.
Chemistry: Thallus K+ brownish; containing fumarprotocetraric and usnic acids.
Substrate
Corticolous
Etymology
capillacea: From the Latin capillus ‘hair’ or ‘thread’, meaning hair-like or thread-like
Usnea articulata does not exist in NZ or Australia, as suggested by Galloway (2007). Usnea capillacea is not a synonym of U. articulata, but represents the entity in New Zealand (see Bannister et al. 2023).
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (19 April 2021). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features and Similar taxa sections copied from Galloway (1985) & Galloway (2007) (pages for Usnea articulata).
References and further reading
Bannister J.M., Knight A. and Blanchon D. 2023: Reinstatement of Usnea capillacea Motyka (lichenized Ascomycota, Parmeliaceae) to the New Zealand lichenized mycobiota. Australasian Lichenology 92: 8-13.
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.