PART 1

Wright, Verr. Cub. 157 (G, holotype; US, isotype), syn. nov.
Trypethelium ferrugineum represents the astrothelioid morph of T. aeneum analogous to "Astrothelium"
confusum or variolosum in the Trypethelium variolosum aggregate. It has never been combined in
Astrothelium and since I believe these astrothelioid morphs to be of little significance, I will not do so. Others
may wish to. If one were a real hardcore lumper, T. aeneum, could also be included in the T. variolosum
group as chemotype with anthraquinone pigments instead of lichexanthone.
Trypethelium subeluteriae Makhija & Patwardhan
Trypethelium eluteriae var. polystomum Malme, Ark. Bot. 19(1): 25. 1924. Type. BRAZIL. Mato
Grosso: Buriti, in cort. Platypodii, 16 Jun 1894, Malme s.n. (S, lectotype, selected here), syn.
nov.
This taxon was noted in Harris (1986) and in "Some Florida Lichens" as Trypethelium sp. aff. eluteriae.
Unfortunately Makhija and Patwardhan ran across a really scrappy specimen from Sri Lanka that I had so
annotated and used it as the type for this widespread species. Infinitely better material was available. The
species is not confined to Sri Lanka as they would imply. It is known from Australia, Central America (Costa
Rica), India, Indochina, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, South America (Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay,
Venezuela), West Indies (Cuba, Dominican Republic) and Florida.
New to North America. FLORIDA. Alachua County: Paynes Prairie State Preserve, Bolen Bluff Trail off US
441, ca. 3.5 mi N of main entrance, 29°34'N, 82°21'W; dry hardwoods with Sabal pametto, 1 Dec 1992, Buck
22561; Lafayette County: along Fla Hwy 51, 5.7 mi S of US 27 at Mayo, 29°59'N, 83°14'W; hardwood swamp,
29 Nov 1994, Buck 27089; Polk County: along US 17, 2 mi N of Ft. Meade, 2 Feb 1965, Johnson 6205, 6209;
Sarasota County: Myakka State Park, 31 Jan 1965, Johnson 6186 (all NY).
Trypethelium tropicum (Ach.) Müll. Arg.
A collection from Lake County (Harris 23579, NY) has an unusual, thick, bullate-rugose areolate thallus
with a very thick medulla filled with white oxalate? crystals. The ascomata, hamathecium and ascospores are
perfectly typical T. tropicum. I have speculated that thallus appearance is often substrate dependent. This
collection is on Acer rubrum which is a common substrate for "typical" T. tropicum, so that doesn't seem to be
the case here. I include this comment so that I won't in future just sweep it under the rug.
Trypethelium variolosum Ach.
After 20 years and hundreds, if not thousands, of specimens I have come to the conclusion that there is a
complete series of intermediates between the trypethelioid and astrothelioid morphs in this aggregate species.
The astrothelioid ascoma in this taxon seems to be derived from the invagination of the ascomatal wall (not
fusion of individual ascomata). All stages can be found, from basal, incomplete, non-melanized invaginations
to complete, melanized dividing walls. Since I am tired of flipping a coin to decide if the invaginations are
complete enough to warrant placement in Astrothelium s. lat. or not (there is even some variation on a single
thallus) and since the amount of invagination seems to have no predictive value, I have decided to merge the
two "morphs". Also, I have concluded that here (and throughout the family) the presence or absence of
lichexanthone should not be used as a specific character (Harris, 1993). (Almost every lichexanthone
containing taxon has some lichexanthone deficient collections.) Further, some collections in this group could
be segregated on the basis of a large amount of cartilaginous tissue in the pseudostromata as T. leprieurii.
Again, I find a complete gradation from essentially none to comprising most of the pseudostroma. Two further
characters which do not seem to correlate in any meaningful way are hymenial inspersion and oxalate crystals
in the ascomatal wall. As far as I can tell there is not the slightest correlation between any of these characters
and ecology or geographic distribution. This complex seems to represent one of those cases where the
extremes are distinct but the middle ground is vast and messy. Using the above characters in all possible
combinations (most of which I have run across) one could recognize dozens of "species". The oldest name
for a member of this aggregate is Trypethelium variolosum Ach., an astrothelioid morph containing
lichexanthone. Trypethelium variolosum occurs throughout Florida. The following segregates have previously
been recognized and some may wish to continue to do so.
1). Trypethelium ochroleucum (Eschw.) Nyl. - Asomata solitary to aggregated in trypethelioid
pseudostromata; lichexantone present; common, throughout Florida. Those who wish to recognize this
commonly used name will have to protect it against a couple of older Fée names.
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