Usnea xanthopoga
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 small, caespitose, sympodially branched thalli; a waxy, glabrous, glossy cortex; numerous spinulose isidia on small, raised warts; punctiform pseudocyphellae on terminal branches; and fumarprotocetraric acid as major secondary medullary compound.
Distribution
South Island: Southland. Stewart Island. Snares Islands. Auckland Islands. Campbell Island: (Beeman Station, Perseverance Harbour). Antipodes Islands.
Known also from Australia (New South Wales and Tasmania) and Macquarie Island and from Argentinian Tierra del Fuego and Staten Island.
Habitat
Epiphytic on scrub in exposed subantarctic grasslands or fellfield.
Detailed description
Thallus fruticose, often caespitose, pale greenish-yellow to pale yellow, cortex waxy, glabrous, shining, branches firmly attached at base, 1-1.5 mm thick, sympodially branched, straight, gradually attenuate at apices, not inflated, rarely papillate, sorediate. Soredia numerous, discrete, isidiate, in small warts or raised on rounded, knobbly soralia, occasionally spinulose-isidiate. Apothecia not seen.
Chemistry: Medulla K−; containing fumarprotocetraric, protocetraric (tr.), hypoprotocetraric (tr.) and usnic acids.
Similar taxa
Similar to U. inermis but with a K− or + brownish thallus (fumarprotocetraric acid present).
Substrate
Corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (2 August 2022). 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.