Physma byrsaeum
Synonyms
Parmelia byrsaea Ach.
Family
Pannariaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Foliose
Current conservation status
2018 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: DP, SO, Sp
Brief description
Characterised by the corticolous habit; the brownish, olive-green to greyish, glaucous-blue or blackish, strongly wrinkled, plicate–ridged, minutely maculate (×10 lens) thallus, turgid and expanded when moist, leathery and wrinkled when dry; sessile, laminal or occasionally marginal apothecia to 2.5 mm diam., the disc red-brown, glossy, waxy, without tomentum; and colourless, simple ascospores, 13–14 × 8–9 μm, with a thick perispore.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Church Road Scenic Reserve, Waiwera), South Auckland, Gisborne (Waioeka Gorge), Hawke’s Bay. South Island: Marlborough (Chetwode Islands).
Widespread in the tropics: Africa, tropical America, Asia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Oceania, and Australia.
Habitat
In inland and coastal lowland localities in humid, low-light, forest habitats. Among mosses on bark of Cordyline australis. Still very poorly known and collected here.
Detailed description
Thallus foliose, lobate ± rosette-shaped, to 10 cm diam., corticolous. Lobes radiating, 25 mm long and 2-12 mm wide, margins thickened, rounded, sinuses circular often deeply incised. Upper surface brownish or olive-green to greyish or glaucous blue to blackish, darker centrally, strongly wrinkled, faveolate, plicate-ridged, minutely maculate (X 10 lens) or minutely wrinkled-faveolate, sometimes smooth and shining in parts. Lower surface woolly, black, densely rhizinate to margins. Rhizines very short, squarrosely branched, black or pale. Apothecia common, sessile, laminal or occasionally marginal, to 2.5 mm diam., disc plane, red-brown, shining, waxy, imperforate, without tomentum, margins thick, to 0.5 mm wide, minutely wrinkled, leathery. Ascospores 8 per ascus, colourless, ellipsoidal, 13-14 × 8-9 µm, with a thick epispore.
Similar taxa
Similar to P. chilense but with epruinose margins and a smooth epuinose thalline exciple.
Substrate
Corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (January 2024). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features and Similar taxa sections copied from Galloway (1985) and 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.