Liverworts v1 (2008) - A Flora of the Liverworts and Hornworts of New Zealand Volume 1
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Cephalozia badia (Gottsche) Steph.

Cephalozia badia (Gottsche) Steph.

Jungermannia badia Gottsche, Ergebn. Deutsch. Polar-Exped. 2(16): 452. pl. 1, f. 1–5. 1890.

Lophozia badia (Gottsche) Steph., Wiss. Ergeb. Schwed. Südpolar-Exped. 1901–1903, 4(1): 8. 1905.

Cephalozia badia (Gottsche) Steph., Sp. Hepat. 3: 313. 1908. 

Type: South Georgia, Köppenberg, 10 Feb. 1883, Will (F!, slide ex herb. Schuster).

Cephalozia cucullifolia Steph., Wiss. Ergeb. Schwed. Südpolar-Exped. 1901–1903, 4(1): 2. f. 1, 2. 1905. 

Type: South Shetland Is., Nelson Is., Harmony Cove, 1902, Skottsberg (syn. fide Grolle, 1972d) (F!, ex herb. Schuster).

Cephalozia badia fo. minor Grolle, Bull. Brit. Antarct. Surv. 28: 83. 1972, nom. nud., syn. fide Bednarek-Ochyra et al., 2000). 

Type: South Sandwich Is., Leskov Is., summit ridge, Longston 501.

Plants soft, slender, prostrate, procumbent or ascending, when in moss cushions then erect, the plants whitish green, with at least the distal parts of leaves, bracts and perianth apex brownish or fuscous or purplish brown, medium sized, the shoots to 500 µm wide. Branching sporadic to frequent, the branches typically of Frullania type, the half-leaf distinct, ovate; ventral-intercalary type branches also present, small-leaved. Stems with cortical cells in 13–15 rows, thin-walled, slightly to at most moderately larger than those of the medulla; medullary cells thin-walled. Rhizoids scattered, hyaline or brownish. Leaves vertically oriented, strongly dorsally assurgent, variably spreading, suberect to obliquely so, remote to contiguous, succubously to subtransversely oriented, the insertion obliquely succubous throughout to subtransverse, extending virtually to stem midline dorsally, the leaves moderately to strongly concave (cupulate), broadly ovate to suboblate, uniformly bilobed to 0.4–0.5; lobes usually incurved, erect, not connivent, not drawn out, the ventral often slightly larger, broadly subacute to acute, the apices often blunt, terminating in a single cell (or a pair of laterally juxtaposed cells) or, exceptionally, a uniseriate row of 2(3) cells at most very slightly longer than wide, the lobes 6–10 to (type of Cephalozia badia) 11–14 cells wide at base; lamina 16–22 or (type of C. badia) 28–32 cells wide. Cells quadrate to rectangular, thin to slightly firm-walled, 19–30 µm wide × 24–38 µm long; basal cells considerably larger; surface minutely papillose or smooth. Underleaves absent or, sporadically, rather large, lamellate, occasionally bifid. Gemmae lacking.

Dioecious (or autoecious?). Androecia on long shoots or rather short ventral-intercalary branches, occasionally on lateral-intercalary branches, the androecia becoming intercalary, wider than sterile sectors, with bracts more closely imbricate than leaves; antheridia 1 per bract. Gynoecia on long shoots or short ventral-intercalary branches; bracts in 2–3 series, larger than leaves, the innermost 2(3)-lobed to 0.35–0.45, the lobes acute to narrowly rounded, entire, but at times with 1–2 crescentic shoulders or rounded incipient lobes toward base, the lamina margins entire; the sinus base gibbous; bracteole similar to bracts. Perianth long-exserted, fusiform, obscurely trigonous, plicate above, moderately narrowed toward mouth, the mouth crenulate-denticulate to plurilobulate-dentate and then with teeth often curved, composed of a uniseriate row of 2–3 cells long or 2 cells wide at base and 2–3 cells long.

Capsule (Bednarek-Ochyra et al., 2000) ovoid-cylindrical, the wall bistratose; outer layer of cells subquadrate, with two-phase ontogeny ill-defined, the longitudinal walls with nodulose thickenings alternating with walls either lacking thickenings or with sinuous thickenings; inner wall with semiannular bands, the bands narrow.

Spores 11–14 µm in diam., papillose, the spore:elater diam. ratio 2:1. Elaters bispiral.

Distribution and Ecology : New Zealand: Campbell Island (380 m; see also Schuster, 2002a), South Island (1615 m). Also known from the South Sandwich Islands, South Orkney Islands, South Shetland Islands, west Antarctic Peninsula (see Bednarek-Ochyra et al., 2000), South Georgia, Falkland Islands (Engel, 1990a), Brunswick Peninsula (Engel, 1978) and western Patagonia (Hässel and Solari, 1985).

In New Zealand occurring with Lophozia autoica, L. excisa and Pachyschistochila colensoana at 1615 m over peaty soil along a small, permanently wet seepage area near the top of the “Old Man” (Old Man Ra., Otago, Schuster 67-515c, 67-516, F).

Comments : Mature shoots have cupped, vertically oriented leaves, inserted to the stem midline dorsally, with the dorsal bases of the leaves lying over the stem. The leaves are uniformly bilobed, the lobe apices often blunt or only subacute and not drawn out, and the cells at the lobe tip are about as wide as long or at most slightly longer than wide. Branching is typically Frullania type, with ovate half-leaves distinct. Plants are whitish green to brownish to purplish brown.

The sexuality of the species remains uncertain. The type is apparently sterile, and Bednarek-Ochyra et al. (2000) studied only ♀ and sterile plants. Plants of Schuster 67-515c have both gynoecia and androecia. In most instances gametangia were observed on rather long branches, and a clear connection between ♂ and ♀ axes could no longer be established. In one case, however, a rather long perianth-bearing axis originated as a ventral-intercalary branch from an older shoot, and 1 or 2 gyres distant on the older shoot, a rather long androecial shoot originated as a ventral-intercalary branch. In another case, a long leafy shoot bore 2 rather long ventral-intercalary branches within 1 gyre of one another, one branch with a perianth, the other with an androecium. At some distance from these fertile branches the leafy shoot also bore 2 rather short ventral-intercalary branches in close proximity, both androecial. The plant is thus, at least in part autoecious, but this should be confirmed with study of other populations.

One of us (JJE) has studied leaves from the type of Cephalozia badia mounted on a slide (ex herb. Schuster). Lobes are 11–14 cells wide at the base, subacute to narrowly rounded at the summit and terminate in 2 laterally juxtaposed cells, a single cell, or exceptionally a uniseriate row of 2 cells; the cells at the tip are about as wide as long. The disc is 28–32 cells wide at the widest point, the disc cells are thin-walled, the median disc cells are 19–28 × 28–35 µm and the basal cells are considerably larger.

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