Tuatara: Volume 14, Issue 1, April 1966
The Parmeliaceae of New Zealand and a Key to Indigenous Species of Parmelia
The Parmeliaceae of New Zealand and a Key to Indigenous Species of Parmelia
The Lichen FamilyParmeliaceae is represented in New Zealand by six genera with an approximate total of eighty species. Hypogymnia and Menegazzia, formerly included in Parmelia as subgenera, are today generally accorded full generic rank. They are represented by seven and fourteen named species respectively, but there are several new species of Menagazzia awaiting determination and description. Parmelia has approximately fifty species, Cetraria six, and Anzia and Chondropsis one each.
The status and even the validity of several named Parmeliae may be open to question, as many early descriptions were meagre and inadequate, while much relevant literature, almost all types, and even authentic specimens are not available in the Dominion. These factors make the preparation of an accurate Key very difficult.
The late Dr. James Murray prepared a Key to the commoner New Zealand species of Parmelia in which he included both Hypogymnia and Menegazzia—40 species in all—part of which I have incorporated in the following Key. As this Key is based in part on published descriptions only, inaccuracies may well be present; but the lack of suitable Keys in many genera makes ecological studies in particular exceedingly difficult: and as the completion by Dr. Mason E. Hale of his monograph of the genus Parmelia may be expected to take some considerable time yet, it is felt that circumstances warrant the present Key, always realizing that final determinations cannot safely be made solely from a Key.
page 8In his ‘Conspectus Systematicus Lichenum Novae Zelandiae’ of 1894 Dr. J. Muller has already eliminated some sixty species erroneously classified as Parmeliae, or attributed to the wrong species of Parmelia. It may be that one or two species retained by me are also synonyms. Several other recorded species have been omitted for lack of detailed information.
Key to the New Zealand Genera*
1. | Thallus with rhizines or warts on the lower surface | —2 |
Thallus without rhizines—at least on the free surfaces | 3 | |
2. | Apothecia marginal. Rhizines scanty | Cetraria |
Apothecia laminal | Parmelia | |
3. | Plants attached to the substrate | —4 |
Plants lying unattached on surface of the soil | Chondropsis | |
4. | Plants tomentose and spongy on lower surface | Anzia |
Plants nude below. Rhizines usually absent | —5 | |
5. | Thallus lobes perforate above. Spores large(20-100μ) | Menegazzia |
Thallus lobes not perforate above. Spores small (5-10μ) | Hypogymnia |
Key to New Zealand Species of Parmelia
(Note: K and C refer to aqueous solutions of caustic potash and calcium hypochlorite respectively, and P to an alcoholic solution of para-phenylene diamine. The + sign implies a colour reaction, y-r indicates a yellow colour turning to red. All reactions refer to the medulla unless otherwise indicated. The use of a lens may be necessary to detect pseudocyphellae.)
1. | Rhizines few or many but absent from a wide marginal zone. | —2-7 |
Rhizines or warts present over the whole lower surface | —8-39 | |
2. | Plants yellowish or stramineous | —3 |
Plants brown, olive, or blackish | —4 | |
Plants whitish, ash-coloured, or glaucous-grey | —5 | |
3. | Lobes broad, rugose or wrinkled, sometimes sorediate, rarely isidiate, not ciliate. Thallus K +,C +. Medulla K -,C -. P + (r) or P -. | caperata |
Lobes 6-18mm. broad, thick, rigid, sparingly ciliate (cilia 1mm. long), rugulose, confluent and convolute Thallus K + y. C -. Medulla K + r, KC + r | pomifera | |
4. | Thallus grey to olive-brown, margins sorediate, pseudocy-phellate, no cilia; lobes rounded and incurved. Corticolous as a rule. C + red, or C -, KC - | cetrarioides |
Thallus small, dark and diffract at centre, paler and yellower page 9 at margin, closely adnate to rock. Soredia yellow. K + (y - r) | mougeotii | |
5. | Margins with long, black cilia. Soredia submarginal to laminal. K -,P -, KC + red | arnoldii |
Margins with long black cilia. No soredia. Corticolous. | ||
Cortex smooth. | nilgherrensis | |
Marginal cilia few and short (1-1.5mm.), or none | —6 | |
6. | Older apothecia often perforate at centre, marginal zone below often white. Rocks or Trees. K + (y - r) | perforata |
Apothecia never perforate | —7 | |
7. | Plants glaucous-grey, lobes broad, sorediate lobes strongly revolute. Usually corticolous. K + y, C -, KC -. | perlata |
Plants grey to greenish grey, but Ky - r, KC + y - r. | trichotera | |
Plants somewhat larger. Spores larger with an outer coat (epispore) and a pale yellow inner wall (endospore) | latissima | |
8. | Plants dark or olive-brown or blackish | —9 |
Plants otherwise coloured | —19 | |
9. | Plants with isidia, soredia, or granules | —10 |
Plants not or rarely isidiate or sorediate | —12 | |
10. | Plants granular towards centre, lobes overlapping at margin, K -.C -,KC - | otagensis |
Plants centrally isidiate, becoming sorediate. K - | —11 | |
11. | Lobes 1-3mm. wide | glomellifera |
Lobes 3-5cm. long by 3mm. wide | waiporiensis | |
12. | Lobes filamentous and black. Rhizines few. Subalpine, rocks and trees | pubescens |
Lobes not filamentous, dorsiventral | —13 | |
13. | Plants fuscous or blackish, glossy, reticulate rugulose. Thallus K + y. Med. K + red | omphalodes |
Medulla K -, C - | —14 | |
14. | Plant saxicolous. Lobes less than 1mm. wide | —15 |
Lobes 2-3mm. wide | —16 | |
15. | Plants 20-25mm. wide. Lobes .3-.6mm. wide. Closely branched | petriseda |
Plants 15-20mm. wide. Lobes .2-.3mm. wide. Loosely branched | epheboides | |
16. | Plants corticolous, appressed, smooth or minutely corrugate, rarely isidiate | olivacea |
Plants saxicolous | —17 | |
17. | Verrucose or corrugate above | adpicta |
Smooth at least at the periphery | —18 | |
18. | Glossy olive-brown with small squamules at the centre | panniformis |
Glossy blackish-brown. Lobes convex, no central squamules. Laciniae narrow. C -, P -. | prolixa | |
19. | Plants flavescent. yellowish-green, or stramineous | —20 |
Plants whitish, grey, greenish grey, or glaucous-grey | —23page 10 | |
20. | Plants sorediose, sinuses circular, K + (y-r). | sinuosa |
Plants not sorediose | —21 | |
21. | Plants pale yellow, often isidiate, firmly adnate to acid rocks. Thallus K + f, C +; Medulla K + (y-r), P + (orange) | conspersa |
(Note: P. tasmanica belongs to the P. conspersa complex, and P. stramineonitens, a plant found on clay banks, also belongs here.) | ||
Plants under 3cm. wide, rhizines few | —22 | |
22. | Plants yellow, pale or fuscous below, attached to rock. Lobes 2-3mm. wide | molliuscula |
Plants pale flavescent, 1-2cm. wide, loosely attached to silty soil. Lobes under 1mm. wide | sp. nov. | |
23. | Thallus isidiate | —24 |
Thallus not or rarely isidiate | —27 | |
24. | Upper cortex with white pseudocyphellae | —25 |
Pseudocyphellae absent | —26 | |
25. | Plants loosely affixed, often ciliate, medulla often exposed at margins. K -, C + red | rudecta |
Plants differing only in the bottle-like shape of the spermatia | subrudecta | |
26. | Cortex ash-grey, reticulately rigid, and with white lines. Isidia brownish-cinerascent. Lacinia sinuate-multifid. Apices retuse. K + (y-r), P + (orange) | saxatilis |
Cortex longitudinally ridged, yellowish-green, soredia yellow when present, yellow isidia centrally. On rocks or trees. KC + (r), P + (r) | rutidota | |
27. | Cortex sorediate | —28 |
Cortex not sorediate | —27 | |
28. | Thallus pseudocyphellate, margins ciliate | —29 |
Thallus not pseudocyphellate, cilia present or absent | —32 | |
29. | Soredia laminal or punctiform | —30 |
Soredia marginal or apical | —31 | |
30. | Glaucous ash-grey above, pale or tan below. Lobes 3-6mm. wide, smooth or wrinkled. Soredia punctiform. K + y, P +; C + red or C -, KC - | borreri |
Light above, dark below. Surface reticulately cracked. Margins ciliate. Soredia marginal to laminal. K + (y-r), P +, C - | reticulata | |
Greyish or brownish, lobes isidiate, margins and isidia cilate. Soredia laminal. K +, P + | crinita | |
31. | Lobes revolute, soredia marginal. K + faintly red. | tenuirima |
Pale glaucous-grey or whitish, often tuberculose-sorediate at apices. Cilia present or absent. Sinuses wide. Thallus K + y. Medulla K -,C -, or C + (r), KC + orange | laevigata | |
32. | Cortex reticulately cracked and rugulose | —33 |
Cortex not so, margins not ciliate | —37page 11 | |
33. | Soredia marginal or apical. Cilia present or absent. K + (y-r), P + r | cetrata |
Soredia marginal, in surface cracks, or absent | —34 | |
34. | Surface wrinkled or furrowed | —35 |
Surface smooth or rugulose | —36 | |
35. | Pale glaucous or greyish. No isidia or cilia. Soredia in cracks. K + (y-r), C + red. P + (orange) | sulcata |
Soredia marginal and apical on cucullately revolute lobes. | ||
Sinuses narrow. KC + red. C + (rose) | revoluta | |
36. | Cortex smooth, soredia in cracks or absent. K - | erimis |
Cortex ash-brown or pale-cervine, centre squamulose. | ||
Plants appressed. Soredia punctiform | testacea | |
Plants 2cm. diam., sorediate, no cilia | pilosella | |
37. | Upper cortex with sigmoid pseudocyphellae | signifera |
Plants without pseudocyphellae. | —39 | |
38. | Milk-white to pale-yellowish-brown, reticulately plicate, appressed. Lobes more or less inflated. Surface with white lines or dark spots. K -, C -, KC + red | crambidiocarpa |
Whitish grey. Lobes flat. No soredia or isidia. | —39 | |
39. | Surface smooth. Lobes thickish, rounded, crenate. Thallus K + y. Medulla K -, C + red | tiliacea |
Similar but receptable of apothecia black setose. | carporrhizans | |
Similar but spores larger, lobes square-ended, 2mm wide K +, C - | subtiliacea |
I am indebted to Mr. P. James of the British Museum for several determinations).
Omitted from the Key for various reasons are the following reported species:— Parmelia furfuracea, P. limbata, P. linkolae, P. pyracea, P. ruditor, P. schweinfurthii, P. subalbicans P. subconspersa. The New Zealand species of the other genera are listed below.
Menegazzia
a. Dispora (2-4 spores in each ascus).
M. aucklandica, M. cincinnata M. circumsorediata, M. dispora, M. foraminulosa, M. nigrescens, M. nothofagi, M. opuntioides (?) and M. pertusa.
b. Octosporae (6-8 spores in each ascus).
M. amabilis, M. dielsii, M. inflata, M. pertransita, M. stirtonii, M. weindorferi.
Hypogymnia
a. Lobes hollow.
H. enteromorpha, H. lugubris, H. physodes, H. subphysodes, H. turgidula.
page 12b. Lobes solid.
H. billardieri, H. subteres.
Cetraria
C. corallophora, C. dermatoidea, C. glauca, C. islandica, C. novae-zelandiae, C. sepincola.
Anzia angustata, Chondropsis semiviridis.
* For a glossary of the terms used in these keys see Tuatara 10: 124-128, 1962.