Physma chilense
Synonyms
Physma tricolor Zahlbr.
Family
Pannariaceae
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 (on small twigs); the bluish grey thallus which is pliable when wet, rigid when dry, the margins often white-pruinose; the bright-red or red-brown apothecial discs with white-pruinose margins; and ascospores, 16–20 × 12–15 μm.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Radar Bush), South Auckland (Te Aroha, Mangaotaki Valley Pio Pio, Waihaha, West Taupo) to Wellington (Tiritea Stream Palmerston North, Wairarapa coast, Pinnacles Gorge). South Island: Nelson (Lake Rotoiti, Maruia River, Rahu Swamp), Westland (Karamea to Jackson Bay and Cascade Valley).
Known also from southern Chile and Juan Fernandez, Victoria and Tasmania.
Habitat
Common on riverine shrubs and trees W of the Main Divide. It is mainly a twig species (on Carpodetus, Coprosma propinqua, Dacrydium cupressinum, Dodonaea viscosa, Pennantia corymbosa etc.) though will also colonise bark. Lowland, coastal and inland in damp, humid habitats in moderate to deep shade.
Detailed description
Thallus foliose, lobate, spreading to 4 cm diam., corticolous. Lobes 2 mm wide, crowded, subimbricate, margins thickened, pectinate, incised, wavy, often white-pruinose. Upper surface yellowish, green-brown to plumbeous-blue, blue-black at margins and often with patches of white pruina, finely wrinkled in long, parallel striations, not reticulate or maculate, often very slightly tomentose, tomentum short, golden-brown. Lower surface pale, whitish or creamish to yellow-brown, tomentose, ecorticate, rhizinate. Rhizines pale, short, often tufted or in brownish vein-like structures. Apothecia sessile or subpedicellate, laminal, occasionally marginal, to 2 mm diam., disc bright red or red-brown, shining, epruinose, plane to subconvex, margins thick, crenate, roughened, dark bluish and often white-pruinose. Ascospores simple, colourless, 16-20 × 12-15 µm.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (25 January 2022). 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.