Hypotrachyna chicitae (Hale) Hale

Hypotrachyna chicitae

Parmelia chicitae Hale, 1971:30. [Type collection: Asunción, Costa Rica, Culberson 13210 (US, holotype; DUKE, TNS, isotypes).]

Thallus loosely to closely adnate, fragile, often forming a thick, cushion-like mass, ashy white or blackening toward the center, 4–10 cm broad; lobes sublinear, elongate, often crowded, 1.5–4 mm wide; upper surface plane, shiny, lacking soredia and isidia but with numerous pycnidia; lower surface densely rhizinate, the rhizines sparsely dichotomously branched. Apothecia rare, adnate, 3–6 mm in diameter; spores 5μ × 6μ–7μ.

CHEMISTRY.—Cortex K+ yellow, medulla K−, C− (or C+ faint rose), KC+ rose, P− (atranorin, evernic acid, lecanoric acid, obtusatic acid, and norobtusatic acid).

DISTRIBUTION.—Costa Rica, Venezuela, and Peru.

HABITAT.—On rocks, soil, or mosses in paramo at 3300–3600 m elevation.