Byssoloma adspersum
Common name
Path side lichen
Family
Pilocarpaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | Data Deficient | Qualifiers: OL
Brief description
Characterised by the saxicolous/lignicolous habit; the minutely farinose to warty thallus; plane to convex, black, matt apothecia with a narrow, white byssoid margin (disappearing with age); and (3–)5-septate, halonate ascospores, 15–18 × 4.5 μm.
Distribution
North Island: Northland to Waikato. South Island: Nelson and northern West Coast. Distribution not well known; it probably occurs in more regions.
Habitat
On siliceous rocks and tanalised, worked timber in lowland, humid, forest habitats. It also colonises aluminium name tags. In the North island this species is most often seen on tantalised timber along paths.
Detailed description
Thallus crustose, minutely farinose to warty, matt or glossy, with or without a marginal whitish to dark-green prothallus. Apothecia rounded, 0.5–0.8 mm diam., 0.2–0.5 mm tall, sessile, strongly constricted at base; disc plane to convex, black, matt, epruinose, with a narrow, white, byssoid margin disappearing with age. Hymenium 60–70 μm tall, colourless, often with numerous scattered, inspersed granules; epithecium brown. Hypothecium dark-purple. Asci clavate, 8-spored. Ascospores ellipsoidal, one apex more obtuse than the other, transversely (3–) 5-septate, halonate, 15–18 × 4.5 μm.
Substrate
Lignicolous, often on tanalised wood.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (3 March 2021). Brief description, Habitat, and Features sections copied from Galloway (2007).
References and further reading
Galloway D.J. 2007: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens, including lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi. 2nd edition. Lincoln, Manaaki Whenua Press. 2261 pp.