Solenostoma totipapillosum
Jungermannia totipapillosa E.A.Hodgs., J. Roy. Soc. New Zealand 2: 111. 1972 (“totopapillosa”).
Holotype: New Zealand, South Is., Governors Bush, Mt. Cook, 19 Sept. 1962, J. Taylor (MPN 19433 ex herb. Hodgson 12983, non vidi); isotype: (CHR 1135674!).
[Plate 13A; Fig. 152: 4, oil-bodies, p. 698]
Plants delicate, thread-like, prostrate to ± erect, in loose mats, dull, pure green to light green to yellowish green tinged with red, to deep wine-red, minute, to 1 mm wide. Branching sparing to rather copious, the branches lateral-intercalary. Stem green to dark- to brownish green to wine-red, the cortical cells in surface view narrowly rectangular, the cell outlines obscure, the walls often rather thick, often coarsely papillose like the cells of the leaves, in cross section the cortex not sharply differentiated, in a single layer of somewhat smaller cells; medullary cells large, thin-walled. Rhizoids sparsely produced, almost colorless, diffusely arranged, from the ventral side of the stem. Leaves often subvertical, obliquely to widely spreading, distant, moderately concave, the insertion weakly succubous to ± transverse, the leaves oval to broadly elliptic to almost orbicular, 490–590(750) µm wide × 390–490 µm long, the apex broadly rounded; margins plane to ± erect, the dorsal and ventral margins only weakly decurrent. Cells opaque, firm-walled, trigones small to medium and straight-sided; cells of lower median and basal portions of leaf short-rectangular, to 18–21(35) µm long, the cells in distal sector smaller, ± isodiametric, 13–20 µm wide and long; surface coarsely papillose, with large oval papillae, the papillae 3–5 × 6–8 µm, 3–5 per cell in distal portion of leaf. Oil-bodies pale smokey grey, dull opaque, 2–4(5) per median leaf cell, coarsely granular, short to rather long-elliptic, at times somewhat irregularly so, 4.8–6 × 8.6–13 µm. Chloroplasts large for the cell size. Underleaves absent. Asexual reproduction absent.
Dioecious. Androecial shoots a little narrower than ♀ ones, the androecia intercalary, with bracts in 3–6 pairs, strongly ventricose, rather distant, transversely inserted, the bract margins broadly recurved; antheridia solitary, rarely 2 per bract, the stalk biseriate. Gynoecia terminal, the shoots often innovating by one or more stout intercalary branches; bracts almost the same size as the subgynoecial leaves, broadly elliptic to ovate or cordate, transversely inserted, not united with the perianth base or with 1 bract inserted on it. Perianth exceeding the bracts by half, turbinate (obpyriform), terete below, bluntly 4–5-angled in the distal 0.3–0.5 and abruptly narrowed to an erect, collar-like, prominent beak, the margins of the perianth mouth crenulate by bluntly projecting ends of the marginal cells, the cells of the beak subquadrate to short-rectangular (to 2.5:1); cells of perianth proper similar to the leaf cells, isodiametric, coarsely papillose.
Capsule dark red (the valves carmine by transmitted light), short-ellipsoidal to subglobose, the wall 2-stratose, 30–32 µm thick, the outer layer about 2× the inner layer in thickness; outer layer of cells short-rectangular, thin-walled or with very thin continuous, sheet-like thickenings, with short peg-like to knob-like thickenings of both the longitudinal and transverse walls, often extending a short distance onto the outer tangential wall; inner layer of cells with longitudinal walls with thin, sheet-like, pigmented thickenings and regular, narrow, complete scalariform bands, only rarely ending short of the opposite wall.
Spores 12.5–13.4 µm in diam., carmine, papillose, the papillae mostly distinct or united into short ridges of 2–4 papillae. Elaters 7.7–8.6 µm wide, bispiral, the ends abruptly tapering to elongate, sinuous-twisted tips, the tip portion 3.4–3.8 µm wide, the spirals 3.4–3.8 µm wide, not extending into the elater tips.
Distribution and Ecology : Endemic to New Zealand: South Island ([450]760–1970 m), North Island (1200–1350 m). Known from Fiordland, Southland (Garvie Mtns.), Otago (Central Otago), Westland, Canterbury, Western Nelson, Sounds–Nelson and Volcanic Plateau EPs.
A plant of well-drained, often exposed sites. In forests above 450 m over dripping cliff faces or clayey soil of slopes or banks. At 450 m in lower montane Nothofagus fusca forest with Dacrydium cupressinum, Metrosideros umbellata and Griselinia littoralis where it is on clayey soil of a slope (Paparoa Ra., along Croesus Track, Westland). Plants at the type locality (Governors Bush, Mt. Cook Natl. Park, 760–800 m) formed a soft, velvety, loose mat over a shaded cliff face in a N. menziesii forest. Also in upper montane forests of N. fusca – N. solandri var. cliffortioides (e.g., on a clayey bank at Pinchgut Track, Nelson Lakes Natl. Park, 1280–1390 m). In penalpine areas of Chionochloa, Hebe and Dracophyllum occurring over pebbly soil of a steep slope at 1010–1170 m just southwest of Mt. Burns (Fiordland Natl. Park) or deep in a pocket in the side of a rill at 1370–1470 m below and west of Mt. Shrimpton (Mt. Aspiring Natl. Park). On the track to the summit of Mt. Arthur (Kahurangi Natl. Park) occurring at 1550 m on soil in a protected pocket halfway down a large sinkhole (ca. 3–4 m in diam. × 3–4 m deep); the immediate habitat included mosaic communities of penalpine cushion vegetation, rocky herbfields and Dracophyllum. In the alpine zone at the lip of a seepage area (head of Gertrude Valley, Fiordland Natl. Park, 1940–1970 m) or on a cliff face where some soil has accumulated (Stocking Stream, Mt. Cook Natl. Park, 1280–1330 m). In the North Island found deep in a crevice between boulders at ca. 1200 m in an area with alpine vegetation with scattered frequent rocky outcrops (Mangatepopo Stream below Soda Springs, Tongariro Natl. Park, Wellington). The species has been found with Conostomum pusillum, Diplophyllum dioicum var. icari, D. domesticum, Ditrichum difficile, Hygrolembidium australe, Jensenia connivens, Kurzia hippuroides, Leptotheca gaudichaudii, Marsupella ustulata and Notoligotrichum australe.
Nomenclature : Váňa (1975) selected a specimen from CHR as lectotype of Jungermannia totipapillosa. However, Hodgson did not have direct involvement with the identity of the CHR specimen, as the collection has only a typed Botany Division paper determination slip that states “135647 Clasmatocolea sp. nov. Determinavit E.A.Hodgson 1964,” and a typed supplementary label stating “Clasmatocolea sp. nov. papillose: assoc. Diplophyllum obtusum, E.A.Hodgson 1964.” The specimen bears no handwriting of Hodgson. A specimen at MPN, on the other hand, bears the notation, “Jungermannia spec. nov.” and, beneath, “= Jung. totopapillosa Hodgs.,” with “Type” written in red ink on the packet, all in Hodgson’s hand. We conclude that the MPN specimen is the holotype, and the CHR collection an isotype.
Comments : Solenostoma totipapillosum is a distinctive plant, despite its diminutive size. The plants are typically a dull, light green, with distant, widely spreading, transversely inserted leaves. The most distinctive feature of the plant is the high, spherical papillae (Fig. 152: 4), which viewed from the side (or in sections of the leaf) resemble droplets of oil or resin, hence the term “guttulate” used to describe papillae of this type. Other notable features of S. totipapillosum are the rich carmine color of the spores and the oddly shaped perianth, with its erect beak, which resembles an old-fashioned stand-up collar. Solenostoma totipapillosum is commonly found under forest, whereas the very similar S. rufiflorum has not been recorded from forest habitats.
According to Váňa (1975), Solenostoma totipapillosum is the only non-Asiatic species of the sect. Nematocaulon, the members of which are characterized by the coarsely papillose surface of the leaves. It may be confused with S. rufiflorum, but in this species the papillae are low, smaller in diameter and 8–15 per cell.
