Thallus decumbens, ad 10 cm longus, brunneo-nigrus. Pseudocyphellae rarae, brunneolae. Soralia rara, globosa, subterminalia, grisea. Thallus acidum norsticticum continens. Pseudephebe pubescens similis, sed thallus cum pseudocyphellae et soralia.
Typus: Falkland Islands, West Falkland, Port Howard, summit of Mt. Maria, UTM 21F UC 2079 [51°607500’S, 59°593500’W], 2158 ft. [658 m], feldmark, 28 January 1968, H. A. Imshaug (41327) & R. C. Harris (MSC-0080870—holotypus).
Description
Thallus fruticose, up to 10 cm wide, prostrate, no distinct main branches, thickest branches up to 0_4 mm diam. but usually <0_2 mm diam., branching isotomic dichotomous, young branches brown, old branches blackish; with pseudocyphellae and soralia. Pseudocyphellae rare, straight, up to 0.3 mm long and 0.05 mm broad, in young branches sometimes with medulla showing, otherwise closed and blackish. Soralia globose, 0.3– 0.5 mm diam, concolorous with thallus, on end of branches or terminating small sidebranches near branch tips; soredia 14–20 mm diam. Cortex approaching Nodobryoria-type (see Common & Brodo 1995), with pseudoparenchymatous surface cells which look knobbly on the surface, below that prosoplechtenchymatous hyphae in a massive gelatinous matrix.
Chemistry. C--, K+ red (acicular crystals in section), Pd+ yellow; norstictic acid by TLC. Lichenan present in cell wall.
Distribution and ecology. Known only from grassland and Empetrum-heath, apparently not attached to rock, at three different localities from c. 500–650 m on Mt. Maria, West Falkland.