Flora of New Zealand Series

Lepidozia subverticillata Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 18: 245. 1886. Lectotype (fide Engel and Merrill, 2004): New Zealand, Waipawa Co., near Norsewood, 1885, Colenso a. 1420 (WELT! – c. per. + sporo. + ♂); isolectotype: (BM! – c. ♂).

Lepidozia leucocarpa Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 21: 65. 1888 (1889). Lectotype (fide Engel and Merrill, 2004): New Zealand, Waipawa Co., near Norsewood, “Shingle splitter’s swamp,” 1885, Colenso a. 1320 (WELT! – c. per. + sporo.); isolectotype: (BM! – c. per. + sporo.).

Lepidozia minutissima Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 21: 66. 1888 (1889). 

Type: New Zealand, Waipawa Co., near Dannevirke, 1888, Colenso a. 1319 (BM!, WELT – absens).

Lepidozia occulta Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 22: 456. 1889 (1890). 

Type: New Zealand, Waipawa Co., S of Dannevirke, 1889, Colenso a. 1517 (BM! – c. ♂, WELT – absens).

Lepidozia hepaticola Steph., Sp. Hepat. 3: 592. 1909. 

Type: New Zealand, without specific loc., Goebel s.n. (G!).

Lepidozia radiata Steph., Sp. Hepat. 6: 339. 1922. Telaranea radiata (Steph.) R.M.Schust., J. Hattori Bot. Lab. 26: 256. 1963. 

Type: New Zealand, sin. loc., “inter Colenso 1095” (G!, WELT! – c. ♂).

Plants pale green; stems flexuous, often appearing fleshy for plant size; branches rather closely spaced, of about equal length, hardly tapering, often at right angles to main axis, with secondary branches often frequent; branches terete, not complanate, with leaves typically transversely inserted and oriented (at times weakly incubous), plane or somewhat hand-like due to incurving of lobes; leaf disc 2–3(4) cells high; leaf lobes typically uniseriate to the base, the cells of uniseriate row weakly constricted at septa or sometimes with feebly protruding septa.

Distribution and Ecology : Endemic to New Zealand: Auckland Islands, Stewart Island (530 m), South Island (0–915 m), North Island (30–920 m), Kermadec Islands. For comments on Tasmanian reports see Engel and Merrill (2004). Known from all ecological provinces in South and North islands.

The plant is common throughout New Zealand in low- to middle-elevation forests (typically below 700 m and commonly at sea level). It occurs on a variety of substrates, but commonly may be found on rotted, especially decorticated wood (rather frequently on crumbly wood on the forest floor), bryophyte-covered logs, tree-fern bases (e.g., Cyathea), shaded, clayey, mossy banks, damp leaf litter, or less commonly corticolous (e.g., bark of Kunzea). It often forms yellow-green, felt-like, at times dense mats. It has been found with Chiloscyphus mittenianus, C. spiniferus, Plagiochila gigantea, Rhaphidorrhynchium amoenum and Schistochila kirkiana.

Comments : Telaranea lindenbergii var. lindenbergii has a distinctive aspect, due to the ± regular 1–2-pinnate branching and the rather short primary branches of roughly equal length. The leaf insertion is typically transverse and the disc is only 2 (locally 3) cells high, consisting of a basal tier of narrowly elongate cells, and a distal tier, formed by the bases of the lobes. The lobe cells are commonly moderately thick-walled, and the lobes are either straight-sided or have weakly protruding septa (Fig. 68: 4, 5) and a firm, subcapillary appearance, suggestive of T. praenitens. The var. lindenbergii is noteworthy for the high incidence of fruiting, with perianths (and often sporophytes) present in a large number of the specimens examined, and androecia also commonly present.

Plants of Telaranea lindenbergii often bear a striking resemblance to T. pallescens. Both species are very pale to whitish green in color, with transversely inserted, deeply dissected, hand-like leaves. The branches are often subopposite, at right angles to the main shoot, with an abundance of secondary branches. The presence of a hyaloderm and absence of Microlepidozia -type branching will immediately mark T. lindenbergii. In addition, the disc cells of T. pallescens are quite small, short-rectangular to quadrate, and the disc is 2–4(5) cells high.