Caloplaca homologa
Synonyms
Lecanora homologa Nyl., Callopisma homologum (Nyl.) Müll.Arg., Triophthalmidium homologum (Nyl.) Gyeln.
Family
Teloschistaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
Characterised by the corticolous habit; the dingy grey-white to olive-greenish, wrinkled, rosette-forming thallus; crowded ±central apothecia with red-brown to dark-brown apothecial discs and pale, crenulate, persistent thalline margins concolorous with the thallus; distinctive plurilocular (3–(5)-septate ascospores.
Distribution
North Island: Auckland, Hawke’s Bay (Kumaroa), Taranaki (New Plymouth, Stratford), Wellington (Ruahine Range, Manawatu Gorge, Wairarapa). South Island: Marlborough (d’Urville Island), Westland (Lake Kaniere), Canterbury (Hagley Park Christchurch, Kaituna Valley Banks Peninsula), Otago (Mt Trotter, Matanaka, Flagstaff, Leith Valley, Dunedin, Green Island, Saddle Hill), Southland (Invercargill, Tiwai Point, Cosy Nook). Stewart Island: (Traill Park, Oban, Bird Island, Muttonbird Islands).
Recorded also from the North West Himalaya.
Habitat
On lowland, coastal trees and shrubs such as Coprosma crassifolia, Veronica elliptica, Hoheria, Myrsine chathamica, Plagianthus, Sophora, also on introduced trees in urban parks and street plantings in towns and cities, especially on *Acer, *Cupressus macrocarpa, *Platanus, *Populus, *Quercus and *Salix in sites of moderate to heavy pollution, and on fruit trees, e.g. *Malus.
Commonly associating with Haematomma babingtonii, Physcia adscendens, P. jackii, Ramalina celastri, Teloschistes chrysophthalmus, T. velifer, species of Usnea and Xanthoria parietina.
Detailed description
Thallus crustose, dingy grey-white to olive-grey, somewhat coriaceous, wrinkled, irregularly cracked, in rosettes or irregular patches 1-4 cm diam., K-, corticolous. Apothecia scattered, solitary to 2-3-confluent, 0.2-1.0 mm diam., disc dark reddish-brown to brown, K-, slightly roughened, subconcave to plane, margins entire or crenulate, persistent, concolorous with thallus. Ascospores biseriate, 3-locular, ellipsoid with rounded ends, straight, 21-25 × (9-)10-12(-13) µm.
Similar taxa
It is commonly (and understandably) mistaken for a species of Lecanora, until the ascospores are checked.
Substrate
Corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (12 February 2021). 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.