Telaranea pallescens (Grolle) J.J.Engel & G.L.Merr.
Kurzia pallescens Grolle, Rev. Bryol. Lichénol. 32: 177. 1963 (1964).
Microlepidozia quadriseta fo. pallescens (Grolle) R.M.Schust., Nova Hedwigia 15: 456. 1968.
Telaranea pallescens (Grolle) J.J.Engel & Merrill, Fieldiana, Bot. 44: 87. 2004.
Holotype: New Zealand, North Is., NW Ruahines, Otupae Station, 1948, Druce (MPN ex hb. Hodgson 8223, non vidi).
Microlepidozia quadriseta (Grolle) R.M.Schust., Nova Hedwigia 15: 456. 1968.
Holotype: Tasmania, Williamsford, near Mt. Read, 1 Jan. 1900, Weymouth 5755 as Lepidozia longiscypha (M, non vidi); isotype: (G!).
Plants with the aspect of Telaranea lindenbergii, prostrate and densely interwoven, rarely subcaespitose, pale whitish green or at times pure green, nitid when dry; shoots to 6 mm wide including branches. Branching irregularly 1-pinnate to ± regularly 1–2(3)-pinnate, the branches dorsally ascending to suberect, typically with Frullania -type branches on one side of the main axis and Microlepidozia -type on the other; branch half-leaf of Frullania -type branches (1)2–3-lobed nearly to the base, the first branch underleaf 2–3-lobed, inserted on the lateral side of branch base or the juncture of main shoot and branch, aligned with underleaves of branch. Ventral-intercalary branches occasional; lateral-intercalary branches not seen. Stem cortical cells moderately thick-walled, in 12–16 rows, the medullary cells 15–20, somewhat smaller. Leaves stiffly and widely spreading, transversely inserted, symmetrically (3)4–6-lobed, 280–700 µm wide (between tips of lobes) × 260–350 µm long; branch leaves 4-lobed, subcontiguous, feebly succubously oriented. Lobes uniseriate to base, inserted on a triangular base composed of 2–3(4) disc cells, the uniseriate portion 5–6(7) cells long, the cells firm and rather thick-walled, gradually smaller distally, the cells 2–4.7:1, gradually shorter distally; surface smooth. Disc 10–12 cells broad at base, 2–4(5) cells high (including base of lobes). Cells of disc differentiated in size and shape from those of the lobes, compact, short-rectangular to subquadrate, 16–24 µm wide × (16)24–28(40) µm long; surface smooth. Oil-bodies (Schuster, 1980a, fig. 2: 2) (1)2–3 in cells of disc, 3–5 per cell in uniseriate row of lobe, weakly to distinctly botryoidal. Underleaves 4–6-lobed, often with 1 or more lobes abbreviated, terminating in a slime papilla, the disc 2–3 cells high.
Dioecious. Androecia on inconspicuous, short, determinate, tightly spicate, ventral-intercalary branches from main shoot or terminal on rather short to long primary or (more often) secondary terminal branches; bracts concave, the disc especially so, 2–3-lobed to ca. 0.5, the lobes 2 or more cells wide at base, apiculate to short-acuminate, terminating in a uniseriate row of several cells; dorsal margin of disc slightly dilated, with a few crenulations and slime papillae; antheridia 1 per bract, the stalk uniseriate. Gynoecia on abbreviated ventral-intercalary branches from main axis; bracts of innermost series much larger than leaves, the bracts concave, narrowly ovate; apices with 2–4 narrow lobes that terminate in a single cell or a uniseriate row of 2–3 cells, the lobes composed of ± regularly rectangular cells, the apical end of the marginal cells sometimes feebly diverging, the margins at times with a partially or wholly laterally free cell, the lobe margins thus finely and sparingly crenulate-spinose dentate; lamina composed of ± regularly short-rectangular cells, the margin bordered by cells of variable shape, most long and narrow, a few only slightly longer than wide, the apical or free end of marginal cells at times divergent and forming a short projection or an apically oriented tooth, the margin irregularly and sparingly crenate-denticulate, the teeth rarely composed of more than 1 cell; bracteole similar in size and form. Perianth large, fusiform, hyaline, ± terete below, bluntly trigonous only in the distal portion, the mouth strongly contracted and pluriplicate, dentate-ciliate, the teeth free for varying lengths (at times ca. 0.5 of cell free), at times consisting of a uniseriate row of 2 cells; perianth unistratose to base.
Seta with 8 rows of large epidermal cells surrounding an inner core of numerous smaller cells. Capsule ellipsoidal-cylindrical, 490–515 µm wide, 985–1200 µm long, the wall largely 3-stratose, 32–36 µm thick (locally 4-stratose and 35–38 µm thick); outer layer with somewhat irregular two-phase development, the primary cells with walls remaining colorless, the secondary walls with strong, brown, sinuous-nodular thickenings; innermost layer with cells ± irregular in shape, with semiannular bands remote, well-developed and almost always complete.
Spores 12–14 µm in diam., the wall rather thin, honey-colored, with close vermiculate to granular-vermiculate ridges, which are often furcate but do not delimit areolae. Elaters feebly twisted, 7.2–9.5 µm wide, bispiral, the spirals 2.8–3 µm wide.
Distribution and Ecology : New Zealand: South Island (75–1970 m), North Island (10– 800 m); Australia: Tasmania. In New Zealand known from Fiordland, Westland, Western Nelson, Canterbury (Main Divide at Arthur’s Pass), Sounds–Nelson (Richmond Ra.), Taranaki (Pukeiti Bush), Auckland (Kaimai Ra., Coromandel Forest Park, Waitakere Ra.) and Northland EPs.
In New Zealand it occurs sporadically, over a broad ecological amplitude (often in humid sites), from the southern part of South Island to the northern extremity of North Island. It occurs in forests of several different types on both South and North islands. For example, in the South Island the species grows in seepage areas (with Telaranea remotifolia) among cliffs and boulders in a Nothofagus menziesii forest (Haast Pass area); on the floor of open boggy areas in a rather open Leptospermum scrub forest in a serpentine area (Red Hills, Marlborough); as well as in humid niches with the moss, Distichophyllum kraussei, in forest dominated by Phyllocladus alpinus, Nothofagus solandri, Leptospermum scoparium, Olearia lacunosa and Weinmannia racemosa (Paparoa Ra.). It is present in several different types of lowland bogs and is found, for example, in Sphagnum – Empodisma minus – Halocarpus bogs with Kurzia helophila, Megalembidium insulanum and Riccardia sp. (Omoeroa River, Schuster 67-246), in pakihi along the west coast of South Island, as well as on wet soil among sedges and Gleichenia at an ecotone between Typha orientalis swamp and Leptospermum scoparium swamp (south of Cape Reinga, Northland). In the North Island it grows, for example, over soil on stream banks just above water level in old Kunzea forest with Agathis australis and Phyllocladus trichomanoides (Waitakere Ra., Auckland) and on well-shaded, bryophyte-covered stream banks, again not far above water level, in kauri forest with Weinmannia silvicola (Waipoua Forest). At Aongatete River (Kaimai Ra., 425 m) it was on soil over bedrock, deep in a pocket-like drainage channel at the river margin where it may occasionally be inundated. The river is at the bottom of a narrow ravine with a dense overhang of Blechnum and Freycinetia baueriana in Dacrydium cupressinum – Beilschmiedia tawa forest with a Cyathea understory. On Mt. Moehau (Coromandel Forest Park, ca. 800 m) plants grew intermingled in Sphagnum on the bank of a very moist seepage area in a mosaic of Sphagnum bog and small communities of shrub-heath including Dracophyllum recurvum, Lepidothamnus laxifolius, Coprosma foetidissima, Oreobolus pectinatus, Corokia buddleoides, with occasional stunted Weinmannia silvicola and stunted Dacrydium cupressinum. It has been found with Balantiopsis diplophylla, Cryptochila grandiflora, Heteroscyphus billardierei, Isotachis montana, Kurzia helophila, Lepidozia spinosissima, Riccardia cochleata, R. pennata, Sphagnum cristatum and Treubia pygmaea.
The species extends into the penalpine and alpine zones and is present in a variety of humid sites, including the sides of rills and watercourses, soil on tussock bases and protected shaded niches under shrub cover. In the Arthur’s Pass area it is found in a mosaic of penalpine scrub and alpine vegetation at the sides of tussock plants that grow at the edges of pools and, interestingly, Telaranea pallescens may form large masses semi-submerged in the pools. In the alpine zone in Gertrude Valley (Fiordland) it occurs on protected ledges in seepage areas of cliffs.
Comments : Telaranea pallescens is a rather uncommon plant and is most likely to be mistaken for T. lindenbergii, a common species in New Zealand. The two species are remarkably similar in appearance, due to their ± wiry, bristly appearance, regularly pinnate branching and pale whitish green color. The leaves are transversely inserted and deeply 4–6-lobed, the lobes uniseriate to the base and inserted on 2 disc cells, with a disc 2–4 cells high. Differences include the presence of Microlepidozia -type branches and asymmetrically lobed underleaves in T. pallescens. The most conspicuous difference, however, may be in the basal tier of cells of the leaf disc, which in T. lindenbergii are thin-walled and longitudinally elongated (17–24 µm wide × 40–60 µm long, Fig. 68: 2, 3) vs. small, compact and subquadrate in T. pallescens (ca. 24–28 µm wide and long, Schuster, 1980a, fig. 2: 9–11). Telaranea trilobata differs from T. pallescens in the mostly 3-lobed leaves and less strongly differentiated cells of the leaf disc.
