Telaranea meridiana (E.A.Hodgs.) E.A.Hodgs.
Lepidozia meridiana E.A.Hodgs., Trans. Roy. Soc. New Zealand 83: 611. pl. 2, f. 24. 1956.
Telaranea meridiana (E.A.Hodgs.) E.A.Hodgs., Rec. Domin. Mus. 4: 107. 1962.
Type: Auckland Is., “Cape Expedition,” No. 2 Camp, 31 Oct. 1944, Turbott s.n. (CHR!); isotype: (MPN, non vidi).
Plants soft and flexuous, brittle, ascending to suberect, in dense cushions, pale green, nitid when dry; shoots medium, to 1.3 cm wide, including branches. Branching somewhat regularly but loosely 1(2)-pinnate, the branches typically flexuous and somewhat contorted, of the Frullania type; branch half-leaf bifid, narrowly rectangular, the lobes ± parallel; first branch underleaf undivided, broadly acuminate (rarely bilobed), inserted on ventral-lateral side of branch at juncture of branch and main axis, grading to longitudinally inserted on stem just below the branch. Ventral-intercalary branches not seen. Stems with cortical cells rather weakly (on strongest main axis) to distinctly differentiated, thin-walled, in 17–24 rows; cortical cells in section slightly to distinctly larger than the numerous (ca. 120) medullary cells. Leaves on main shoot rigid, widely spreading, distant to contiguous (on compact shoots), the disc plane or nearly so, rarely convex, the lobes ventrally decurved and claw-like (not visible in dorsal view), the insertion incubous (on elongated main shoots the leaves often strongly longitudinally inserted and oriented, with the disc broader than high and nearly in same plane as dorsal surface of stem); leaves 520–700 µm wide × 545–770 µm long, the leaves 4(6)-lobed to 0.4–0.6, the lobes slightly shorter than the disc. Lobes weakly acuminate, the largest leaf lobes (4)5–6(8) cells wide at extreme base, 4–5 cells wide for 4–5 tiers, biseriate for 1–2 tiers, terminating in a short uniseriate row of 2–3(4) cells; lobe cells ± isodiametric to short-rectangular, thin-walled, the cell walls of the uniseriate row not or very weakly thickened in the corners; surface smooth, rarely feebly striate-papillose. Disc moderately asymmetrically rectangular, the dorsal margin longer than the ventral, 6–8 cells high (from median sinus base to leaf base), 21–24 cells wide in distal portion narrowing to (11)14–16 cells wide in basal portion; dorsal margin straight or weakly subcordate at the base, the ventral straight. Cells of disc thin-walled, trigones lacking, the median cells elongate, 30–42 µm wide × 38–51 µm long, the cells in ± irregular rows; basal row of disc cells somewhat larger; surface smooth. Underleaves much smaller than leaves, ca. 1–1.2× stem width, strongly spreading, distant, plane, 4(6)-lobed to 0.35–0.65, the lobes acuminate, 3–4 cells wide for 1–several tiers at base and biseriate for 2–3 tiers, ending in 2 laterally juxtaposed cells, or more commonly in a uniseriate row formed of 2(3) short cells, terminating in a slime papilla; disc symmetrically subrectangular (wider than high), 5–6 cells high (median sinus), 15–18 cells wide at widest point, the cells ± regularly arranged. Rhizoid initial cells small, subquadrate, forming a continuous bistratose pad or band often including the basal portion of the lobes as well as the apex of the disc. Asexual reproduction lacking.
Plants dioecious. Androecia either on short Frullania -type branches with a few cycles of reduced leaves prior to androecial formation, or on short, abbreviated, ventral-intercalary branches from leading shoots; bracts dorsally assurgent, deeply concave, 2-lobed, the lobes acuminate, terminating in a uniseriate row of 2 not or hardly elongated cells; lamina cells irregular in arrangement, the dorsal margin of lamina feebly dilated and slightly incurved, entire or crenulate, devoid of slime papillae; bracts monandrous; antheridial stalk biseriate; bracteolar antheridia absent. Gynoecia not seen.
Distribution and Ecology : Endemic to New Zealand: Auckland Islands, Stewart Island (125 m), South Island (0–610 m). Known from Fiordland, Otago and Westland EPs, not known north of Greymouth.
The species occurs at lower to median elevations, and is primarily terricolous in damp or boggy sites on the forest floor. It less commonly is found in rather open sites, such as in low, mucky niches in swampy areas with Sphagnum and scattered Leptospermum scoparium, at sea level just north of the Haast River. At Ship Creek (near Haast River, Westland) it grows in low, wet areas just above the water level in a mature Dacrycarpus dacrydioides swamp forest. In the Lake Kaniere area (Westland, 125 m) the species is very common on saturated, rich, peaty soil in and especially at the edges of narrow, shallow, ± stagnant pools in the shade of a mixed podocarp–broadleaf forest. Vegetation at this site consists of Dacrydium cupressinum, Weinmannia racemosa, Podocarpus totara, Metrosideros umbellata and an open understory dominated by Pseudowintera. It also occurs in pakihi under rushes, etc., associated with Sphagnum. The species is associated with a variety of other hepatics that occur in forest niches, e.g., Lepidozia procera, L. laevifolia, L. spinosissima and Telaranea tetradactyla.
Comments : Particularly diagnostic for this distinctive species are the flexuous, rather loosely pinnate shoots, and the broad-based, longitudinally inserted and oriented leaves (particularly on elongated main shoots, Fig. 51: 1), which may be up to 16 cells wide in the basal sector. Also distinctive are the broad lobes, (4)5–6(8) cells wide at base, which are ventrally decurved and claw-like, and the uniform, dense areolation of the disc and lobes. In more compact expressions, however, the insertion is variable, from distinctly to rather weakly incubous, and the leaves are rather markedly convex (Fig. 51: 6).
