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Relicinopsis malaccensis
(Nyl.) Elix & Verdon
Thallus foliose, adnate, 4-5 cm wide; lobes sublinear and imbricate, 0.8-1.5 mm
wide, with eciliate margins. Upper surface yellow green, transversely cracked
with dense, mostly simple, small (to 0.3 mm high) isidia. Lower surface pale to
dark brown with dense, simple rhizines to margins. Apothecia very rare,
lecanorine. Spores colourless, 1-celled. Photobiont: chlorococcoid. Spot-tests:
cortex K- or K+ weakly yellow (usnic acid and traces of atranorin). Medulla K-,
C-, KC-, P+ orange (protocetraric acid). - A corticolous species also reported
from Australia, Africa, Malaysia, Sabah, Indonesia, Sarawak, Papua New
Guinea, India, the Philippines and Thailand.
Sarcographa
spp.
Thallus crustose, pale olive-green, thin, smooth, glossy. Apothecia immersed in
conspicuous raised white stromata; stromata rounded, oval or distorted-
ellipsoidal, 1-4 mm wide; lirellae numerous, richly branched, open, 0.1-0.2 mm
wide. Disc matt black, epruinose or faintly white-pruinose. Proper exciple
completely carbonised, thick at the base. Hymenium 80–110 µm thick.
Ascospores 8 per ascus, irregularly biseriate, pale brown, 4-locular. Photobiont:
Trentepohlia
. - Several species are known from Sri Lanka, e.g.
S. labyrinthica
(Hinudama kanda-Ratnapura) and
S. tricosa
(Hunnas Falls-Kandy).
Sclerophyton elegans
Eschw.
Thallus crustose, corticolous, smooth to uneven, pale grey to greyish white,
delimited by a thin, grey to black prothallus. Lirellae linear, simple or often
branched and dendroid, pale to dark brown. The thalline margin exists in line
with the ascomatal disc, but is slightly raised above the sterile part of the thallus,
and is paler in colour. Spores 4-celled, with the upper cell larger than the others.
Photobiont:
Trentepohlia
. Spot-tests: Thallus C-, K+ yellowish or brownish, P+
yellow, UV-. - Rare on bark in humid high elevation forest edges above 1200 m
(Pattipola road- Nuwara Eliya).
Siphula decumbens
Nyl.
Thallus fruticose, forming discrete tufts or, more commonly, extensive mats.
Lobes very variable, generally broadly flattened but not dorsiventral, erect to
decumbent, 0.5-1.5 mm wide, broadening from a narrow base and dividing
irregularly in several planes, mostly 1-2 (-4.5) cm tall. Surface chalky white to
pale cream-coloured, scabrid, dimpled and areolate, often becoming furrowed,
attached to the substrate by a rhizine like rooting system. Medulla solid.
apothecia unknown. Spot-tests: K+ bright- yellow turning brownish red, KC-,
C-, P+ yellow orange, UV- (thamnolic acid). - Very rare, forming conspicuous
colonies among moss mats on well-lit soil banks and logs, mostly restricted to
humid high elevation forests between 1200 and 1400 m (Pattipola Station to
Horton Plains).
Stereocaulon austroindicum
I.M. Lamb.
Primary thallus crustose, granular, terricolous or saxicolous, persistent.
Secondary thallus fruticose, consisting of cylindrical, ecorticate, non-tomentose
pseudopodetia which are erect, up to 2 cm tall, aggregated, simple to branched,
whitish brown, the apices white, densely covered by pseudo-sorediate
phyllocladia. Phyllocladia first granular, then elongated and to ca. 1 mm long.
Cephalodia present, brown to dark brown, enclosing cyanobacteria (
Stigonema
,
rarely
Gloeocapsa
). Apothecia terminal. Photobiont: chlorococcoid
(cyanobacterial in the cephalodia). Spot-tests: phyllocladia K+ yellow, P+ pale
yellow. - Rare on well-lit soil banks and on weathered rocks, mostly restricted
to humid high elevation forest between 1200 and 1400 m (Pattipola station to Horton plains, Kikiliyamana forest and a
few localities in Nuwara Eliya District).
