Hypotrachyna caraccensis (Taylor) Hale

Hypotrachyna caraccensis

Parmelia caraccensis Taylor, 1847:163. [Type collection: Caracas, Venezuela, Linden 576 (FH-TAYL, lectotype; BM, G, isolectotypes).]

Parmelia sinuosa var. caraccensis (Taylor) Lindsay, 1859:218.

Parmelia caraccensis var. guatemalensis Steiner, 1903:234. [Type collection: Guatemala, Friedrichsthal (W, lectotype).]

Parmelia caraccensis var. guatemalensis f. adspersa Zahlbruckner, 1905:82. [Type collection: El Altar, Ecuador, Meyer 341 (W, lectotype).]

Parmelia endorubra Gyelnik, 1934:154. [Type collection: Peru, Lillie 1040 (BP, holotype).]

Thallus loosely attached, massicot yellow, 6–30 cm in diameter; lobes long-linear, separate, 2–6 mm wide; upper surface plane, continuous, lacking soredia and isidia; lower surface densely rhizinate, the rhizines densely dichotomously branched, forming a projecting mat along the lobes. Apothecia adnate, 3–9 mm in diameter; spores 6μ–8μ × 11μ–13μ.

CHEMISTRY.—Cortex K−, medulla K+ red, P+ orange (usnic acid, galbinic acid, norstictic acid, and salazinic acid).

DISTRIBUTION.—Central America southward in the Andes to Bolivia and in southeastern Brazil.

HABITAT.—On hardwood trees, humus, and mosses at 1500–4200 m elevation.