Byssoloma subundulatum
Synonyms
Lecanora subundulata Stirt., Bacidia subundulata (Stirt.) R.Sant.
Family
Pilocarpaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
Characterised by the foliicolous habit; the greenish grey, subfarinose to subsorediate thallus, often best developed at margins of leaves with a thin, whitish, photobiont-free mycelium developed on the lower surface and connected to the photobiont-containing thallus of the upper leaf surface; apothecia abundantly developed on the mycelium of the lower leaf surface or at the margins of the leaves; the chocolate-brown epruinose disc; conspicuously white, downy margins; and 3–5-septate ascospores, 12–18 × 3–4 μm.
Distribution
North Island: Northland, South Auckland (Hunua Range), Wellington (Colonial Knob, Kaitoke). South Island: Nelson (Supplejack Trail), Canterbury (Peel Forest).
Known also from Australia.
Habitat
On leaves of Freycinetia banksii, Podocarpus totara and ferns.
Detailed description
Thallus 10-20 mm diam., continuous, smooth or very slightly farinose (at margins of leaves somewhat sorediate), greenish-grey, sometimes with a white, marginal prothallus, foliicolous. A thin, white mycelium without algae extends on the lower surface of the leaves from parts where the epiphyllous, algiferous thallus reaches the leaf margin. Apothecia constricted at base, 0.2-0.4 mm diam., rare on the algiferous, epiphyllous thallus but abundant on the hypophyllous mycelium (often on the very margin of the leaves), there often aggregate, disc of epiphyllous apothecium testaceous brown, of the hypophyllous apothecia chocolate brown, epruinose, plane or subconvex, margins thin, but conspicuous, white, matt, often minutely downy. Ascospores 3-septate, sometimes 5-septate, oblong to subfusiform, ends usually obtuse, often slightly constricted at septa, 12-18 × 3-4 µm.
Substrate
Foliicolous
Santesson (1952: p 454) did not locate any original material of Stirton’s Lecanora subundulata (none either in E or BM) and instead selected a neotype from material collected by H.H. Allan from leaves on Lastreopsis hispida on Colonial Knob near Wellington. A recent discovery of original Buchanan material in the herbarium of Otago University (OTA), duplicates of which were sent to James Stirton, allows the Buchanan material (now in WELT) to serve as lectotype.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (15 January 2024). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, and Features 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.
Santesson R. 1952: Foliicolous lichens I. A revision of the taxonomy of the obligately foliicolous, lichenized fungi. Symbolae Botanicae Upsalienses 12 (1): 1-590.