Flora of New Zealand Series

Jungermannia sect. Cephalozia Dumort., Syll. Jungerm. Europ. 60. 1831.

Cephalozia (Dumort.) Dumort., Recueil Observ. Jungerm. 18. 1835.

Type: Cephalozia bicuspidata (L.) Dumort. (≡Jungermannia bicuspidata L.)

Plants rather pellucid, typically soft-textured, usually creeping and adhering to substrate, mostly pale or yellowish green, at times with intense reddish to brownish pigments, small to very small, to 1200 µm wide. Branching irregular, often sparingly, the branches of the Frullania and ventral-intercalary types; stoloniform, geotropic, ventral-intercalary branches present in many taxa. Stems soft-textured, with cortex in a single layer of usually 10–12(16) rows of large, often thin-walled cells; medullary cells in 6 to many rows, small, usually weakly to moderately thick-walled. Rhizoids copious, scattered. Leaves usually remote to contiguous, rarely imbricate, the insertion somewhat to strongly succubous throughout, the insertion lines usually leaving at least 2 rows of dorsal cortical cells leaf-free (the lines of insertion approaching stem midline in  subg. Eocephalozia); leaves usually shallowly concave, the concavity (leaf surface) turned upward, ovate to rotund, usually rather few-celled, 0.25–0.5(0.65–0.75) bifid, the sinus, at least at base, usually rounded, the lobes straight or connivent, acute to subacute, sharp, the lobe margins entire; lamina margins entire, the ventral never developing a gibbous water sac. Cells mostly thin-walled, exceptionally slightly and evenly thick-walled, lacking trigones, usually rather large (most 24–45 µm in diam.), pellucid; surface smooth. Oil-bodies absent. Underleaves reduced to ephemeral slime papillae, or rarely, small and scale-like. Asexual reproduction often present, by 1-celled, spherical or ovoid, greenish (never pigmented) gemmae produced on erect, attenuated axes.

Dioecious or autoecious, rarely paroecious or heteroecious. Androecia on main shoot or short to long ventral-intercalary branches (occasionally on lateral-intercalary branches in Cephalozia badia), the androecia terminal but usually becoming intercalary, laxly spicate; bracts bilobed, the dorsal base often with a discrete, incurved tooth or lobe; antheridia 1 per bract. Gynoecia long, leafy shoots or short, abbreviated intercalary branches; bracts in 2–4 progressively larger series, concave, usually bifid but with elaboration of lateral teeth sometimes 4-fid; bracteoles similar to bracts, often connate at base with one or both bracts. Perianth long-emergent, not subtended by a perigynium, terete basally, bluntly trigonous above, gradually narrowed toward mouth; mouth crenulate to ciliate.

Seta usually of the 8+4 type. Capsule long-exserted, ellipsoid to ovoid, the wall bistratose; outer layer of cells with two-phase ontogeny, the alternating longitudinal walls with strong nodular thickenings; inner layer of cells with nodular to spur-like thickenings on radial walls, semiannular bands at times present, incomplete or complete.

Spores finely papillose; spore:elater diam. ratio 1:1. Elaters bispiral.

A genus of 26 species worldwide (cf. Váňa, 1988, p. 179). While the genus is more species rich in boreal–subarctic–Arctic areas than in south temperate areas, only one of the three subgenera occurs in Laurasian vs. two subgenera in Austral areas, including our area. For example, Schuster (1974a) treats 11 species for North America, all in subg. Cephalozia. Only three species occur in southern South America: C. badia, which also occurs in our area; C. pleniceps (Austin) Lindb., which is circumboreal + southern Chile =Cephalozia patagonica Fulford, Fulford, 1968a; fide Schuster, 1986); and Cephalozia chilensis (J.J.Engel & R.M.Schust.) R.M.Schust., Beih. Nova Hedwigia 119: 29. 2002 (≡Metahygrobiella chilensis J.J.Engel & R.M.Schust., Brittonia 40: 203. 1988, nom. nov. pro  Cephalozia heteroica R.M.Schust. & J.J.Engel, Fieldiana 41: 219. 1978, non  C. heteroica Cooke [Cooke, 1904]). Cephalozia cucullifolia Steph., Wiss. Ergeb. Schwed. Südpolar-Exped. 1901–1903, 4(1): 8. 1905, described from the South Shetland Islands, is a synonym of C. badia (fide Grolle, 1972d). Váňa (1988) discussed and provided a key for African taxa. Wigginton and Grolle (1996) report three species from sub-Saharan Africa: C. africana Váňa, C. bicuspidata (L.) Dumort. and C. fissa Steph. The genus is represented in our area by four taxa.

The genus Cephalozia in New Zealand is relatively poorly understood and all of the species in this treatment require further investigation. The generic description was adapted, with considerable modification, from Schuster (2002a).

References: Schuster (1964a, 2002a).