Bazzania adnexa (Lehm. & Lindenb.) Trevis.
Jungermannia adnexa Lehm. & Lindenb. in Lehm., Nov. Min. Cogn. Stirp. Pug. 4: 58. 1832.
Mastigobryum adnexum (Lehm. & Lindenb.) Mont., Voy. Pôle Sud. Bot. 1: 243. 1845.
Bazzania adnexa (Lehm. & Lindenb.) Trevis., Mem. Reale Ist. Lombardo Sci. Lett. III, 4: 414. 1877.
Type: Australia.
Jungermannia novae-hollandiae Nees in Hook.f., Bot. Antarc. Voy. 1: 159. 1845.
Mastigobryum novae-hollandiae (Nees) Nees in Gottsche, Lindenb. & Nees, Syn. Hepat. 221. 1845.
Type: Auckland Is.
Mastigobryum semicordatum Lindenb. & Gottsche in Gottsche, Lindenb. & Nees, Syn. Hepat. 720. 1847.
Bazzania semicordata (Lindenb. & Gottsche) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 832. 1891.
Type: Auckland Is. and Campbell Is., Hooker.
Mastigobryum macro-amphigastrum Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 19: 289. 1887 (1886).
Type: New Zealand, Waipawa Co., near Norsewood, 1886, Colenso.
Mastigobryum olivaceum Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 19: 290. 1887 (1886).
Type: New Zealand, Waipawa Co., near Norsewood, 1886, Colenso.
Mastigobryum polyodon Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 19: 291. 1887 (1886).
Type: New Zealand, Waipawa Co., near Norsewood, 1886, Colenso.
Mastigobryum compactum Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 19: 291. 1887 (1886).
Type: New Zealand, Waipawa Co., near Norsewood, 1886, Colenso a. 1406 (BM!, WELT!).
Mastigobryum macrodontum Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 19: 292. 1887 (1886).
Type: New Zealand, Waipawa Co., near Norsewood, 1886, Colenso.
Mastigobryum nitens Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 19: 293. 1887 (1886).
Type: New Zealand, Waipawa Co., near Norsewood, 1886, Colenso a. 1409 (WELT!).
Mastigobryum parasiticum Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 19: 293. 1887 (1886).
Type: New Zealand, Waipawa Co., near Norsewood, 1886, Colenso.
Mastigobryum heterodontum Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 21: 66. 1889 (1888).
Type: New Zealand, Wairoa Co., woods near Lake Waikare, 1888, Hill.
Mastigobryum vulcanicum Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 21: 67. 1889 (1888).
Type: New Zealand, East Taupo Co., Mt. Tongariro, 1887, Hill.
Bazzania lacerata Steph., Hedwigia 32: 209. 1893.
Mastigobryum laceratum (Steph.) Steph., Sp. Hepat. 3: 478. 1908.
Type: New Zealand, Great Barrier Is., Kirk 214 (G!).
Mastigobryum kirkianum Steph., Sp. Hepat. 3: 455. 1908, syn. nov.
Type: New Zealand, Great Barrier Is., Kirk 152, 153 (G!).
Mastigobryum adnexum fo. exarmatum Steph., Sp. Hepat. 3: 479. 1908 (“exarmata”).
Type: “Australia, Tasmania valde communis; New Zealand haud rara; Africa, Table Mountain prope Capetown bene quadrat.”
Plants strongly anisophyllous, sprawling to suberect in loose cushions or mats, yellow-green to deep green to brownish green; shoots medium-sized, to 3.4 mm wide. Branching repeatedly pseudo-dichotomously furcate, the branches of Frullania type, widely spreading; branch half-leaf ± symmetric, narrowly ovate or ovate-lanceolate, undivided, tapering to a sharp or bidentate, serrulate apex; first branch underleaf 2–3-lobulate, subtransversely inserted on ventral side of main axis somewhat below base of branch, usually marginally connate at base to an underleaf of main axis or less commonly free, but with bases ± juxtaposed. Ventral-intercalary leafy branches sporadically produced, at times mimicking the terminal branches; stoloniform branches abundantly produced. Stems stiff, the cortical cells small, firm, with evenly thickened walls or the longitudinal walls very thick and the transverse walls thin. Leaves opposite, horizontal to ventrally deflexed, distinctly imbricate, with little or none of stem exposed in dorsal aspect, widely spreading (ca. 90°); leaves not vittate, 910–1120 µm wide × 1470–1890 µm long, distinctly incubous, asymmetrically ovate-ligulate, falcate, the apex rather broadly truncate, the truncation square to oblique, the apex often somewhat plicate, coarsely and ± symmetrically 3-dentate, the principal teeth broadly acute to apiculate to subacuminate, 2–7 cells wide at base, the teeth terminating in a single cell or a uniseriate row of 2–3 cells, the terminal cell tapering to a sharp, thick-walled point, the tooth margins and intervening sinus bases sharply and irregularly denticulate (occasionally edentate); dorsal margin strongly ampliate, distinctly arched and defining a broad crescentic line, extending to middle of stem or slightly beyond, cordate at base, the margin entire or denticulate in distal half; ventral margin straight to curved gently inward, somewhat dilated and subcordate at base, entire or denticulate. Cells of leaf differentiated into a broad, diffuse band of enlarged rectangular cells in the median longitudinal portion of the leaf (subvittate), the cells much smaller near the margins, particularly the dorsal; median cells 23–33 µm wide × 35–44 µm long, thin-walled, trigones variable: small and concave-sided to knot-like, intermediate thickenings sporadic; surface smooth or the teeth often finely papillose. Oil-bodies occupying a conspicuous portion of cell lumen, dull opaque, with a cloud-like appearance, 2–3(4) to (2)3–5 per median leaf cell, 3–5 per in subvitta cells, 6–8(11) per basal cell, potato-shaped, ovoid to broadly elliptic, often irregularly so, to at times sausage-shaped, homogeneous, but the oil-body contents often not consistent throughout and appearing to possess folds, indentations or auriculations, the oil-bodies 7.2–8.5 × 9.1–11.7 µm, a few 7.8 × 12.4–13 µm. Underleaves conspicuous, erect to spreading, connate with the leaves on both sides (feebly connate or free at least on one side in var. aucklandica), subquadrate to oblate to reniform (or in var. aucklandica, triangular and tapering to a sharply channeled apex, the lateral margins sharply reflexed), broader than long, the apex distinctly ragged and hyaline (decolorate), with irregular, sharp, often crowded, sinuate teeth (rarely subentire), the hyaline distal sector variable in width, often occupying as much as half of underleaf or ( var. aucklandica) very broad and with the green, thick-walled cells few and restricted to the median basal area, the hyaline sector composed of thin-walled, sinuate-rhomboidal cells; base straight or ( var. aucklandica) cordate to subauriculate and with a narrow hyaline margin extending to the insertion; median non-hyaline cells quadrate to ± elongate; surface of hyaline cells very delicately papillose. Fungal partner absent.
Androecia on inconspicuous, short, determinate, tightly spicate, ventral-intercalary branches from leading shoots and both ventral and lateral sides of stoloniform branches; bracts ventricose-cucullate, the apex retuse to 2(3)-dentate; dorsal margin of disc slightly dilated, crenate-sporadically denticulate, the teeth unicellular, the margin sporadically smooth and merely with a few slime papillae; antheridia 1–2 per bract, the stalk biseriate; bracteolar antheridia present or absent. Gynoecia on abbreviated ventral-intercalary branches issuing from main stem, the gynoecium base swollen and rhizoidous; bracts of innermost series much larger than leaves, erect and closely ensheathing the perianth, the bracts concave, ovate to subrectangular; apices with 4 main long lobes, each lobe either simple or in turn subdivided into 2 prominent lobules, the lobes or lobules markedly leptodermous, each subcaudate and with the distal sector consisting of a rather long biseriate region with the cell tips often variously projecting, the lobe-lobule biseriate to the tip or the tip composed of a uniseriate row of at most 3 cells, the lobe-lobule margins sparingly dentate-ciliate below the biseriate area; lamina composed of ± regularly short- to long-rectangular, leptodermous cells, the margin bordered by cells of variable shape, some only slightly longer than wide, others long and narrow, the apical or free end of marginal cells often divergent and forming a short projection or a tooth, the margin irregularly and rather copiously crenate-dentate, but often with a few short to long cilia; bracteole similar in size and form. Perianth prominent, straight to curved, fusiform, terete below, the distal half pluriplicate and gradually narrowing to the contracted mouth, the mouth irregularly dentate-subciliate, the processes composed of 1 or 2 superposed cells that are thin-walled, elongate and often completely laterally free; perianth ca. 9–10 stratose in basal sector.
Seta with 15 rows of outer cells, the interior cells not seen. Capsule rather long-ellipsoidal, the wall 70–74 µm thick, of 5–6 layers that are subequally thick or the outer layer feebly thicker; outer layer of cells very small, 16–19 µm wide × 28–36 µm long, with two-phase development, the longitudinal walls with very thin, feebly developed, sheet-like thickenings and a few large nodule-like to spine-like thickenings alternating with walls that are devoid of thickenings (or are sporadically locally thickened), the transverse walls devoid of thickenings or sporadically have an isolated nodule; innermost layer of cells with ± tiered, irregularly narrowly to broadly rectangular cells, with semiannular bands common, rather wide, close, usually complete, rather frequently forked and anastomosing to delimit ill-defined, local fenestrae.
Spores 16.8–19.7 µm in diam., brown, with dense, sharply defined papillae and abundant simple or furcate vermiculate markings. Elaters rigid, nontortuous, 9.1–11.5 µm wide, only slightly tapering toward tips, bispiral to tips, the spirals 3.8–4.8 µm wide.
Key to Varieties
Distribution and Ecology : New Zealand: Auckland Islands, Stewart Island (0–500 m),South Island (0–1070 m), North Island (180–915 m), Chatham Islands; Australia: Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland. In the South Island found at over 1000 m in Nelson and Marlborough, but in Fiordland only reaching ca. 600 m. Very widespread and common and recorded from all provinces, but it is known from a single Marlborough record (Mt. Robertson), a single Canterbury record (Wilberforce River) and records from Otago are from only the Otago Coast and Lakes ERs.
All records are from either forest or scrub with a closed canopy. Forest types include Agathis australis forest, tall podocarp forest, sometimes mixed with Nothofagus and Weinmannia, all types and mixtures of Nothofagus forest, Knightia excelsa – Beilschmiedia tawa forest and Weinmannia racemosa – Metrosideros umbellata forest. Not recorded from scrub, shrub-tussockland, or tussockland above the treeline.
Found on stumps, rotten logs, humus, tree bases and on trunks of tree ferns (Dicksonia and Cyathea), particularly at the base.
Accompanying species are commonly Kurzia hippuroides, Psiloclada clandestina, Ptychomnion aciculare, Rhizogonium distichum, and Wijkia extenuata. Other species less often seen with Bazzania adnexa are Acromastigum anisostomum, A. colensoanum, Bazzania nitida, B. novae-zelandiae, Dicranoloma dicarpum, D. robustum, Distichophyllum pulchellum, Heteroscyphus billardierei, Hypnum chrysogaster, H. cupressiforme, Lepicolea scolopendra, Lepidozia pendulina, L. spinosissima, Leucobryum candidum, Saccogynidium australe, Schistochila balfouriana, S. nobilis, Telaranea tetrapila and T. tetradactyla.
Comments : The apical dentition of the leaves in Bazzania adnexa is extremely variable. In well-developed plants it is coarsely denticulate or serrulate not only on the margins of the two or three principal teeth but also on the distal third to half of the lamina. The orientation of the leaves is also variable. Plants often have strongly ventrally secund leaves and, less often, plane and spreading leaves.
The ragged, hyaline distal sector of the underleaf in typical Bazzania adnexa may occupy most of the underleaf area. No other New Zealand species of the genus has underleaves of this type. The hyaline portion is composed of thinner-walled, irregularly shaped cells, with an abrupt transition from the hyaline portion of the leaf to the thicker-walled, more collenchymatous quadrate to subrectangular cells of the basal sector (Fig. 94: 10). In recently collected herbarium specimens the margin is colorless and transparent (decolorate) and the central-basal portion of the underleaf is green.
Bazzania semicordata is placed in the synonymy of this species based on Gottsche et al. (1847, p. 720), who described the leaves as “tridenticulatus dentibus inaequalibus interdum minutissimis saepe denticulatus” and the underleaves as reniform and irregularly toothed at the apex. We have attempted to locate original material of this species, without success, at G, PC, S, STR and W.
Mastigobryum kirkianum Steph. has been placed in the synonymy of Bazzania hochstetteri (e.g., Hodgson, 1954). One of us (JJE) has examined the type (G), which is here placed in the synonymy of B. adnexa. Type plants have persistent leaves, which may have teeth at the apex and, also, the texture is more like that of B. adnexa.
Forms of this species can be difficult to distinguish from other New Zealand Connatae, especially Bazzania hochstetteri and B. involuta var. submutica. For details, see the discussion under those taxa. Despite the extreme and often puzzling variability of the species, there is one expression in New Zealand worthy of recognition, the “ fo. aucklandica ” (Lindenberg and Gottsche, 1851), which is here recognized at the varietal level, as follows:
