On branches. Wellington (Travers, 373), Waitaki (279, 270, 257), Winton (351), Maungaroa, Melbourne, (Australia 365).

Aristotelia serrata (Forst.f.) Oliver. Auckland: Huia Filters, Waitakeres, 800ft, November 1948, J.M.Dingley; Lake Okataina, 1,400ft, December 1953, G.H.C. Westland: Fox Glacier, 600ft, November 1946, J.M.Dingley. Beilschmiedia tarairi (A.Cunn.) Benth. & Hook.f. Auckland: Kawau Island, December 1947, J.D.Atkinson. Beilschmiedia tawa (A.Cunn.) Hook.f. & Benth. Auckland: Mamaku Forest, 1,800ft, July 1946, G.H.C.; Waiatarua, Waitakeres, 900ft, November 1948, J.M.Dingley. Brachyglottis repanda Forst. Auckland: Mt. Te Aroha, 1,100ft, September 1954, G.H.C. Wellington: Mt. Pihanga, 2,000ft, October 1949, J.M.Dingley. Coprosma foetidissima Forst. Wellington: Lake Surprise, 3,000ft, March 1948, J.M.Dingley; Whakapapa, Mt. Ruapehu, 3,000ft, October 1949, J.M.Dingley. Westland: Weheka, 600ft, April 1955, J.M.Dingley; Okarito Forks, April 1955, J.M.Dingley; Hokitika Gorge, April, 1955, J. M. Dingley. Dacrydium cupressinum Sol. Auckland: Sprague's Hill, Henderson, 500ft, May 1947, J.M.Dingley; Cutty Grass Road, Waitakeres, 900ft, August 1948, J.M.Dingley; Anawhata Road, Waitakeres, 1,000ft, March 1949, J.M.Dingley; Waipoua Kauri Forest, September 1949, J.M.Dingley; Mairoa, March 1953, J.M.Dingley. Wellington: Mt. Hauhangatahi, 3,000ft, February 1952, G.H.C. Westland: Staircase Creek, Reefton, 2,000ft, November 1952, S.D.Baker. Elaeocarpus dentatus (Forst.) Vahl. Auckland: Scenic Drive, Waitakeres, 900ft, June 1949, J.M.Dingley. Fuchsia excorticata L.f. Auckland: Mamaku Forest, 1,800ft, September 1954, G.H.C. Taranaki: Mt. Egmont, 3,500ft, November 1924, J.C.Neill. Griselinia littoralis Raoul. Wellington: Whakapapa, Mt. Ruapehu, 3,000ft, October 1949, J.M.Dingley. Griselinia lucida Forst. Auckland: Ruatawhenua, Waitakeres, 900ft, August 1949, J.M.Dingley. Wellington: Oturere River, Mt. Tongariro, 3,500ft, December 1946, G.H.C. Hebe buxifolia (Benth.) Ckn. & Allan. Wellington: Whakapapa, Mt. Ruapehu, 3,000ft, October 1949, J.M.Dingley. Hebe salicifolia (Forst.) Ckn. & Allan. Auckland: Huia, July 1949, J.M.Dingley. Knightia excelsa R.Br. Auckland: Upper Piha Valley, Waitakeres, 900ft, August 1948, J.M.Dingley. Loranthus micranthus Hook.f. Otago: Alton Valley, Tuatapere, 400ft, February 1954, J.M.Dingley. Macropiper excelsum (Forst. f.) Miq. Taranaki: Mt. Egmont, 3,000ft, February 1927, J.B.Cleland-G.H.C. Metrosideros robusta A.Cunn. Westland: Weheka, 600ft, April 1955, J.M.Dingley. Otago: Upper Hollyford Valley, January 1950, J.M.Dingley. Myrtus bullata Sol. Auckland: Moumoukai Hill, Hunua Range, May 1949, J.M.Dingley. Nothofagus cliffortioides (Hook.f.) Oerst. Wellington: Whakapapa, Mt. Ruapehu, 3,000ft, October 1949, J.M.Dingley. Westland: Staircase Creek, Reefton, . 2,000ft, November 1952, S.D.Baker. Otago: Lake Manapouri, February 1948, J.M.Dingley. Nothofagus fusca (Hook.f.) Oerst. Wellington: Hutt Valley, September 1881, T.Kirk; Lake Papaetonga, August 1919, G.H.C.; Day's Bay, May 1922, J.B.Cleland. Westland: Orwell Creek, Ahaura, April 1955, J.M.Dingley; Glandville [sic; = Granville] Forest, April 1955, J.M.Dingley. Nothofagus menziesii (Hook.f.) Oerst. Otago: Lake Te Anau, 900ft, February 1948, J.M.Dingley. Nothopanax arboreum (Forst.f.) Seem. Otago: Longwood Range, 3,000ft, November 1924, J.C.Neill. Nothopanax edgerleyi (Hook.f.) Harms. Otago: Garden Mound, Stewart Island, February 1954, J.M.Dingley. Olearia furfuracea (DC.) Hook.f. Auckland: Rangitoto Island, August 1948, J.M.Dingley. Taranaki: Mt. Egmont: Mt. Egmont, 4,000ft, February 1952, G.H.C. Phyllocladus alpinus Hook.f. Wellington: Mt. Tongariro, 2,500ft, February 1952, G.H.C. Pittosporum colensoi Hook.f. Westland: Weheka, 600ft, November 1946, J.M.Dingley. Pittosporum tenuifolium Banks & Sol. Auckland: Earthquake Flat, Rotorua, 1,500ft, June 1952; G.H.C. Podocarpus ferrugineus Don. Auckland: Moumoukai Valley, Hunua Range, June 1949, J.M.Dingley. Waipoua Kauri Forest, September 1949, J.M.Dingley. Wellington: Ketetahi Springs, Mt. Tongariro, 4,800ft, October 1949, J.M.Dingley. Pseudopanax crassifolium (Sol.) Koch. Auckland: Waitetoko, Taupo, January 1954, S.D.Baker. Pseudowintera colorata (Raoul) Dandy. Taranaki: Mt. Egmont, 3,000ft, March 1951, J.M.Dingley. Quintinia serrata A.Cunn. Westland : Pukekura. November 1954, J.M.Dingley ; Weheka, 600ft, November 1954, J.M.Dingley Rhipogonum scandens Forst. Otago: Garden Mound, Stewart Island, February 1954, J.M.Dingley. Rhopalostylis sapida (Sol.) Wendl. & Drude. Auckland: Cutty Grass Road, Waitakeres, 900ft, August 1948, J.M.Dingley. Schefflera digitata Forst. Westland: Waiho, 600ft, November 1946, J.M.Dingley. Suttonia australis A.Rich. Westland: Weheka, 600ft, December 1946, J.M.Dingley. Suttonia salicina (Hew.) Hook. f.Auckland: Little Barrier Island, November 1947, J.M.Dingley; Cutty Grass Road, Waitakeres, 900ft, November 1948, J.M.Dingley. Weinmannia racemosa L.f. Taranaki: Mt. Egmont, 3,000ft, March 1951, J.M.Dingley. Westland: Lake Mapouriki, November 1946, J.M.Dingley; Okarito Forks, April 1955, J.M.Dingley; Weheka, 600ft, April 1955, J.M.Dingley; Hokitika Gorge, April 1955, J.M.Dingley. Otago: Pike River, December 1949, J.M.Dingley. Weinmannia sylvicola Sol. Auckland: Waipoua Kauri Forest, September 1949, J.M.Dingley.

Hymenophore annual, coriaceous, pileate, sessile. Pilei effused-reflexed when dimidiate and usually attached by a broad resupinate base, umbonate or cupulate when attached by a central base, sometimes imbricate when reflexed pilei arise from a common broad resupinate base, 2-25 mm radius, and width, when laterally connate forming linear areas to 15 x 1-2 cm; pileus surface clothed with coarse hairs usually aggregated into strigose tufts, either erect or imbricated, concentrically zoned or not, concolorous or showing occasional bands of darker colour, white or pallid straw colour; margin thinning out, not inturned or complicate, slightly lobed or entire, sometimes torn when old; hymenial surface cream, pallid ochre with flesh tints, or grey, concolorous or lighter peripherally, marked with concentric zones, or raised lines where colonies merge, sometimes dimpled centrally and radially crenate, not creviced. Context white or straw colour, 0.13-0.2 mm thick, a dense layer of parallel hyphae, sometimes with an interrupted colour zone beneath surface hairs; hyphal system dimitic; skeletal hyphae 6-8 µ diameter, lumen almost capillary, hyaline, sparsely septate, rarely branched; generative hyphae 3-4 µ diameter, walls 0.25 µ thick, branched, septate, without clamp connexions. Hymenial layer 30-50 µ deep, a dense palisade of basidia, paraphyses and cystidioid hyphae. Basidia subclavate, 16-22 x 4-5 µ, 4-spored; sterigmata slender, erect, to 5 µ long. Paraphyses subcylindrical, shorter and narrower than the basidia. Cystidioid hyphae penetrating the hymenial layer, scarcely projecting, 6-8 µ diameter, with a narrow lumen save near the apices, contents inconspicuous; crystal masses often embedded in the subhymenium. Spores cylindrical with rounded ends, narrowly elliptical, or suballantoid, sometimes apiculate, 4.5-5.5 x 2.5-3 µ, walls smooth, hyaline, 0.2 µ thick.

TYPE LOCALITY. Bay of Islands, New Zealand.
DISTRIBUTION. New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania.

HABITAT. Crowded or scattered on bark or decorticated wood.

Although exhibiting a similar microstructure to that of S. hirsutum and S. rameale, typical forms of S. vellereum may be separated readily. The pileus is covered with white or straw coloured strongly developed hairs, either scrupose or imbricately arranged. The colour zone beneath hairs is either wanting (the common condition) or scantily developed above the point of attachment, and not visible under a hand lens. In specimens from which hairs have been denuded the surface remains straw colour or dingy white. The context seldom exceeds 0-2 mm in thickness, consequently pilei are soft and leathery. Fructifications are either solitary, when attached by a broad base with a prominent resupinate portion, or more often broadly resupinate with one or two margins reflexed. They may coalesce and extend laterally, usually on small twigs or branches, for many centimetres. At points of fusion raised lines develop, a feature common in numerous specimens in the herbarium. The hymenial surface is usually grey or lead colour; but not infrequently it may be tinted pallid ochre or flesh colour. Large specimens may be separated from S. hirsutum by the different surface features, absence of a colour zone, thinner pilei and smaller spores; small plants from S. rameale by absence of a colour zone, usual retention of the surface hairs, absence of zones on the surface, thinner pilei which are rarely complicate. Cystidioid hyphae are present, as in the others, but less conspicuous since contents seldom discolour.
Although several workers have held the species to be a form of S. hirsutum, it is at least as distinct as S. rameale is from S. hirsutum. Bresadola (1916, 232) referred the species to S. friesii Lev., a very different plant. Judging from authentic collections examined in Kew herbarium the species is confined to Australasia.

[Notes from Kew Type specimen, PRJ 2010] Kew images.