TYPE. Illustration published by Small (1813: tab 2462).

Description. Life form: saprophytic, allied fungus.

[From Giavarini & Coppins 2009] Thallus absent. Ascomata stalked apothecia, 0.7-1.2 mm tall, black; heads 0.2-0.4 mm diam., occasionally with white cottony hyphae on the lower side; stalk 0.04-0.1 mm diam.; epithecium and true exciple reddish brown, K–, N–; hypothecium with a greenish tinge, N± intensifying reddish brown; stalk pale wine-red, K± purplish red, N+ violet-red. Ascospores 7-9 × 2.5-3 µm, 1-septate sometimes constricted at the septum; septum distinct, of ± same thickness as spore wall; surface smooth or minutely cracked.

Substrate and Habitat. Lignicolous on old, dry wood of hardwood trees, more rarely on conifers, in open areas, often in hollows of the trunks in species-poor stands.

Distribution. Europe, North and South America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand; in North Carolina found in the Blue Ridge and Coastal Plain ecoregions, likely throughout.

Literature

Giavarini, V. & B.J. Coppins. (2009) Chaenothecopsis Vain. (1927). Pp. 303-307 in Smith, C.W., A. Aptroot, B.J. Coppins, A. Fletcher, O.L. Gilbert, P.W. James & P.A. Wolseley (eds.). The Lichens of Great Britain and Ireland. The British Lichen Society, London.

Nimis P.L. (2023). ITALIC - The Information System on Italian Lichens. Version 7.0. University of Trieste, Dept. of Biology, (https://dryades.units.it/italic), accessed on 2023-03-25.

Smith, J.E. (1813) English Botany 35. Taylor & Company, London (original description as Lichen debilis).