Description
Varicellaria philippina is a crustose lichen with a somewhat thick, continuous thallus that is mostly smooth but can be slightly wrinkled, especially when young, where small wart-like beginnings of the fruiting bodies may appear. The thallus is whitish. In simple spot tests it reacts K− and C+ (red), the colour change being strong inside and faint on the surface. Soredia and isidia are absent. The medulla is I− (does not colour with iodine), and the hypothallus is whitish and indistinct. [3]
The compound fruiting bodies ( pseudostromata ) are crowded and nearly touching, measuring 0.7–1(–1.5) mm across. They are raised, at first slightly depressed and rounded, later becoming irregularly cylindrical with a slightly narrowed base. Each pseudostroma contains one, occasionally two, apothecia. As they mature, the disc opens to about 0.5 mm wide, forming a shallow, urn-shaped cavity that is pale and somewhat bare. The margin is prominent, fairly smooth to slightly verruculose - crenulate , and the same colour as the thallus. Both the pseudostromata and the disc are K− and C+ (red). [3]
The spores are two per ascus, colourless, oblong, and rounded to obtuse at the ends. They are non-gelatinous, with smooth walls about 6 μm thick, and measure 110–140 μm × 24–30 μm [3] V. philippina is morphologically and chemically similar to V. velata , as noted by Vainio, but V. velata has single-spored asci. [4]
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