Leifidium tenerum
Synonyms
Sphaerophorus tener, Sphaerophorus taylorii, Sphaerophoron australe, Sphaerophorus curtus, Sphaerophorus tener var. curtus, Sphaerophorus globosus var. curtus, Sphaerophorus tener f. curtus, Sphaerophorus tener f. globosoides
Family
Sphaerophoraceae
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 terricolous/corticolous habit; the pale, slender, richly branched thallus which often forms extensive colonies covering large areas, or small cushions or patches on twigs and branches; and by the terminal apothecia on taller stouter branches projecting above the thallus.
Distribution
North Island. South Island. Stewart Island. Chatham Islands. Auckland Islands. Campbell Island. Antarctica. Macquarie Island. Throughout from Northland (Pandora) to Stewart Island, and the subantarctic islands, both E and W of the Main Divide, very widely distributed both on the ground and on rocks in alpine and subantarctic biomes, and in all types of temperate rainforest and occasionally in bogs.
Known also from SE Australia, Tasmania, Argentina and Chile.
Habitat
Found in a wide variety of habitats from moist, humid habitats of moderate shade, where it is an epiphyte of tree trunks and branches, to exposed subalpine or alpine grasslands.
Detailed description
Thallus corticolous or terricolous rarely, on mossy rocks, occurring as small to large cushions, occasionally forming extensive patches on soil, to 1 m wide, morphology very variable, of elongate, fertile erect extended primary branches with shorter, thinner, sterile ± richly branched almost corymbose secondary branches. Primary branches terete, elongate, sparsely to frequently branched, to 7 cm tall, 0.6-1.2 mm wide, surface shining, pale white or greenish-white to fawn or yellowish-brown, cortex papery, thin, 30-45 µm covered by a thin (2-3 µm) epicortex. Algal layer 15-25 µm thick, continuous beneath cortex. Medulla of thick-walled hyphae 6-9 µm diam., partially fused and forming a dense central strand. Apothecia terminal 0.5-1.5 mm diam., subglobose to globose, mazaedium apical, exposed by irregular apical rupture of enclosing receptacle, at maturity partially surrounded by receptacle or free and prominent. Asci 40-65 × 5-8 µm. Ascospores spherical hyaline to greyish, 6.5-10 µm.
Chemistry: Medulla K−, C−, KC−, Pd−, I−; containing sphaerophorin (major) and unidentified compounds.
Substrate
Corticolous, terricolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Melissa Hutchison (30 November 2021). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, and Features 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.