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Genus Cyphelium Ach.
Thallus crustose., apothecia small, sessile to immersed, asci cylindrical, sometimes persisting till late, spores dark, two-celled, more or less ellipsoid.
| On stone; thallus thick, mazedium poorly developed | polycarpum |
| On wood., thallus thin, mazedium well developed | emergens |
Cyphelium polycarpum Zahlbr.
Cyphelium polycarpum Zahlbr., Lich. nov. Zel., 10, 1941 (reprint).
Thallus ash-grey, up to 2 mm thick, mostly determinate, continuous, rimose centrally, K- or faintly brown; cortex fastigiate, 25–40μ thick, of faintly brownish tipped thick-walled hyphae 2½μ dia. algal layer 25–50μ thick, cells trebouxioid, up to 10½μ dia.; medulla white, nubilated, of irregularly arranged, 2½μ dia hyphae; thin brown hypothallus visible in places is K + brown, apothecia black, adnate to almost immersed, saucer-shaped, excipulum rudimentary, hypothecium hyaline, 75–140μ thick, hymenium 100–120μ high; paraphyses conglutinate (distinct in KOH), 1½μ thick, mostly simple with 3μ dia brownish tips, level with and hardly distinguished from cortical hyphae, asci clavate-cylindrical, about 55X15μ, 8-spored; mazedium thin or absent, spores reddish-brown, oblong, 1-septate, 15–18-½ × 7½-10½, sometimes slightly constricted at septum.
Habitat. On exposed rock.
Distribution New Zealand. Otago: Silver Peak, 2,400ft, T 1157, and in CHR as ZA 3880 (isotypes), Swampy Spur, 2,200ft, 4188.
This species, at present known only from two collections, is a doubtful member of the genus. The thallus is much thicker than usual, and the well developed fastigiate cortex seems to make it unique in Cyphelium; in addition, although the asci apparently do disintegrate early (when the spores are dusky-bluish), the apothecia have at most only a few loose spores on the hymenial surface rather than a definite mazedium. The abundant stout paraphyses are also unusual in the genus. I believe the species may belong to a separate new genus, but hesitate to erect one for it in the absence of other specimens and without examining other Cyphelium species. Possibly it does not belong to the Coniocarpineae, but the structure of the cortex and hymenium seem to exclude it from Rhizocarpon or Buellia in the Cyclocarpineae, which it otherwise resembles.
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Cyphelium emergens (Wils.) Zahlbri.
Trachylia emergens Wilson, J. Linn. Soc. Lond Bot. 28, 369 (1891) and Tabl.
Cyphelium emergens Zahlbr, Cat. Lich. Univ 1, 664 (1922).
Thallus epi- and endolignous, whitish, up to 40μ thick above substrate surface, K-, algae green, Trebouxia, globose, 10–18μ dia or more or less oblong, 10½–13 (-18) × 7½–10½ (-13)μ, colonies usually enclosed in capsules about 150 × 75μ containing 25 or more algal cells and with a boundary wall of fungus hyphae, apothecia up to ½ mm dia. round or somewhat ellipsoid, convex, mostly with a small annulus of white cortical tissue at the base and seeming to emerge from the wood fibres; hypothecium indistinct, pale; paraphyses few and degenerate; asci not seen, mazedium prominent, K + greenish-brown; spores dark grey with surface coating of black pigment granules (spores turning brown in KOH) mostly 2-celled with round loculae and well constricted at the septum, 8–10½ × 5.2μ, but apparently sometimes 3-septate and 12μ long. The spores in the mazedium usually form conglutinate masses in which individual spores are difficult or impossible to distinguish, and only the round loculae are visible.
Habitat. On old wood.
Distribution. Australia. Marlborough: Onamalutu, Mr. 4240a: Canterbury. Lake Ohau, 1,700ft, Mason 96. Otago. Flagstaff, 1,700ft, 3681, on old posts. Southland: Kaiwera, Mr. 908 (pr. p.)
The algal cells are mostly beneath the top layer of wood fibres, 50–120μ below the surface, and are not always enclosed in “capsules”. The restriction of the gonidia to capsules with a fastigiate cortex of lichen hyphae is not unknown in other lichen families but does not seem to have been recoreded for any of the Coniocarpineae previously. In Mason, 96, the outer thalline layer is very thin, the apothecia appear subglobose and the spores less coherent than usual. In this specimen there are frequent zoosporangia among the algal cells. Probably other wood inhabiting species of Cyphelium are present in New Zealand but have been overlooke or are very local.