Sticta dendroides
Family
Peltigeraceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Fruticose
Current conservation status
2018 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: DP, Sp
Brief description
Characterised by the caulescent habit, springing from a well-defined holdfast; a well-defined, unbranched, central stalk, 3–10 cm tall; a cyanobacterial photobiont; and glabrous, glossy branches that are only rarely minutely pubescent. Corticolous, often between bryophytes, microfruticulose, 3–5 (–10) cm high, dendroid with distinct main stems and obliquely inserted lateral branches. Main branches flattened, dorsiventral, with the upper side bluish grey with creamcoloured maculae and the lower side creamcoloured. Stem and branch surface glabrous to sparsely pilose.
Distribution
North Island: Taupō, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu-Manganui, Wellington. South Island: Southland (Arthur Valley Roaring Burn, Wild Natives River, Dusky Sound, Caswell Sound, Edith River, Lake Hankinson).
Habitat
Forest. Also on damp boulders in shaded habitats of high humidity. Often associated with S. filix.
Detailed description
Thallus erect, to 10 cm or more tall, terete, attached by a strong, root-like holdfast, expanded, coralloid above. Primary branches terete below, basal stalk simple, robust 1-1.5 mm thick and to 4 cm tall, dichotomously or irregularly branching above with small coralloid phyllidia developed at apices. Surface pale fawnish, mottled blue-fawn or leaden grey to grey-black at apices, pale fawnish to dark brown or blackened below, ± glabrous, glossy or matt, wrinkled, grooved or cracked or plane, sometimes with a short, soft, buff pubescene in patches. Photobiont cyanobacterial (Nostoc).
Substrate
Corticolous, occasionally saxicolous
Etymology
sticta: spotted, dappled
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (5 August 2021). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features and Similar taxa sections copied from Galloway (1985), Galloway (2007) and Ranft (2018).
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.
Ranft H., Moncada B., de Lange P.J., Lumbsch H.T., and Lucking R. 2018: The Sticta filix morphodeme (Ascomycota: Lobariaceae) in New Zealand with the newly recognized species S. dendroides and S. menziesii: indicators of forest health in a threatened island biota?. The Lichenologist 50(2): 185-210.