Hypotrachyna brevirhiza (Kurok.) Hale

Hypotrachyna brevirhiza

Parmelia brevirhiza Kurokawa in Hale and Kurokawa, 1964: 166. [Type collection: Isla Riesco, Magallanes, Chile, Santesson 2066 (S, holotype; US, isotype).]

Thallus closely adnate, ashy white, 3–6 cm broad; lobes subirregular and short, 1–5 mm wide; upper surface plane to rugulose, dull, frequently white-pruinose, sorediate toward the lobe tips and in part laminally, the soredia coarse and rather diffuse; lower surface densely rhizinate, the rhizines densely dichotomously branched. Apothecia very rare, adnate, to 5 mm in diameter; spores poorly developed, 3μ–4μ × 6μ–8μ.

CHEMISTRY.—Cortex K+ yellow, medulla K+ yellow turning red, P+ orange (atranorin and salazinic acid).

DISTRIBUTION.—Pantropical in equatorial regions and in southern Chile and Argentina.

HABITAT.—On trees in mist forest, secondary forest, and on rocks at 2000–3800 m elevation (but near sea level in Chile).

Hypotrachyna brevirhiza is a species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. First described as a species of Parmelia by Syo Kurokawa in 1964, Mason Hale transferred it to the genus Hypotrachyna in 1975. The lichen is widespread in Central American Mountains and in the Andes at elevations of 2,700–4,300 m (8,900–14,100 ft), where it grows as an epiphyte on exposed trees and shrubs. It also occurs in southern South America, Africa, India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Macquarie Island, and the Pacific.