Telaranea gibbsiana (Steph.) E.A.Hodgs.
Lepidozia gibbsiana Steph., Sp. Hepat. 6: 328. 1922.
Telaranea gibbsiana (Steph.) E.A.Hodgs., Trans. Roy. Soc. New Zealand, Bot. 3: 70. 1965.
Type: New Zealand, North Is., without specific loc., Gibbs 1041 (G!).
[Plate 6D; Fig. 50: 5, oil-bodies, p. 268; Figs. 56, 57]
Plants subisophyllous, soft, with a hairy appearance, flexuous yet firm, prostrate to ascending, in dense, compact mats, pale green (to deep olive-green in herb.), highly nitid when dry; plants medium, to 0.8 cm wide, including branches. Branching regularly rather densely and closely 1-pinnate, occasionally locally 2- or 3-pinnate, nearly exclusively of the Frullania type; branch half-leaf 2–4-lobed, cuneate (the lobes diverging, even when bifid); first branch underleaf undivided and ciliiform or 2(3)-fid, inserted on ventral or less often ventral-lateral side of branch near or at juncture of branch and main axis. Ventral-intercalary branches occasional, often becoming leading shoots and leafy throughout. Stems with cortical cells distinctly differentiated, thin-walled, in 13–15 rows; cortical cells in section much larger than the numerous (34–47) medullary cells. Rhizoids observed only on stoloniform axes. Leaves on main shoot rigid, suberect to widely spreading, loosely to closely imbricate, concave reflecting the incurving of lobes, the insertion moderately to distinctly incubous; leaves 720–1275 µm wide × 600–890 µm long, subsymmetric to less often asymmetric, 4–6(7)-lobed to (0.6)0.65–0.75, the lobes longer than the disc. Lobes ciliiform, rigid, the base subtriangular, (3)4(5) cells wide at extreme base, terminating in a uniseriate row of 5–7(8) cells; cells of the uniseriate portion ± thick-walled, the septa thickened in the corners and swollen. Disc ± symmetrically cuneate, 4–6 cells high (from median sinus base to leaf base), 15–22 cells wide in distal portion narrowing to 8–15 cells wide in basal portion. Cells of disc thin-walled but not delicate, trigones minute to small, the median cells large, 36–65 µm wide × 50–72(78) µm long; basal 1–2 rows of disc cells considerably larger (wider and on the whole a little longer), often not in regular tiers; surface with network of fine, irregular, elongate striae. Oil-bodies in all leaf cells, including all cells of cilia, hyaline, 7–9 per median disc cell, finely botryoidal, broad to narrowly elliptic to fusiform, spherical and 4–7 µm in diam. or ellipsoidal to ovoid and 4–7 × 4–13 µm. Underleaves somewhat smaller than leaves, strongly spreading to subsquarrose, contiguous to loosely imbricate, plane, 4–6(8)-lobed to 0.6–0.8, the lobes ± symmetrically divergent, ciliiform, straight to arched, the uniseriate portion formed of 5–7(8) elongated, ± thick-walled cells with swollen septa, not terminating in a slime papilla; disc symmetrically cuneate, 3–4(5) cells high (median sinus), the cells often not in regular tiers, the disc 9–17 cells wide in distal portion narrowing to (8)10–12 cells wide at base. Asexual reproduction lacking.
Plants dioecious. Androecia on short, abbreviated, ventral-intercalary, spicate branches from main shoot or primary, Frullania -type branches; bracts closely imbricate, strongly dorsally assurgent, ± cucullate, bilobed to ca. 0.3, the lobes acuminate, terminating in a uniseriate row of 2–3(4) cells, the basal cell isodiametric to rather elongated, the terminal cell ± thick-walled, often curved, rather elongated, to 3.5:1; dorsal margin of lamina somewhat dilated and incurved, entire, bordered by 1–2 rows of elongated, very thin-walled cells, without slime papillae; bracts monandrous; antheridial stalk uniseriate; bracteolar antheridia absent. Gynoecia with bracts becoming progressively larger and less deeply lobate toward the perianth, those of innermost series ensheathing the perianth, deeply concave, the apical portion canaliculate, the bracts ± suborbicular, with apices irregularly 4-lobulate, the lobules terminating in a uniseriate row of 1–2 cells; bract margins crenate to dentate, the armature frequently sharply inflexed, often terminating in a slime papilla, the bracts with an obscure border formed of 1 to several rows of cells longer, narrower and more irregular than those within; bracteoles nearly identical in form to bracts although a little smaller. Perianth 0.5–0.55 emergent, ovoid-cylindrical, terete in basal half, the distal half obscurely trigonous and with 6–9 plicae, the sulci shallow to deep; perianth narrowed toward a decidedly contracted mouth, the mouth with 6 narrowly triangular lobes, each lobe fringed with slightly thick-walled, contorted, crowded, sparingly papillose cilia, the terminal cell of each cilium coarsely papillose.
Seta seen only in collapsed state. Capsule wall 32–40 µm thick, of 3–4 layers, the outer layer subequal to 2 of inner layers; outer layer of cells weakly tiered, rather regularly short-rectangular, with two-phase development, the longitudinal walls with well-defined sheet-like thickenings and nodule-like thickenings (4–6 per cell) alternating with walls that are devoid of thickenings (or with occasional local, not or weakly pigmented, nodular swellings), the transverse walls devoid of thickenings or with 1–2 nodular swellings; innermost layer of cells in weakly defined tiers, irregularly narrowly rectangular; semiannular bands common, rather wide, close, usually complete, at times forked and anastomosing to delimit ill-defined, local fenestrae.
Spores and elaters not seen.
Distribution and Ecology : Endemic to New Zealand: South Island (80–740 m), North Island (305–1320 m). Known from Western Nelson, Taranaki, Gisborne and Northland EPs.
The species appears to be locally and sporadically distributed in the North Island. It occurs in forests of Weinmannia racemosa, Nothofagus fusca and mixtures of these two species, but has also been found under Lagarostrobos colensoi – Lepidothamnus intermedius forest (Mt. Burnett, Western Nelson). Known from several sites in the Lake Waikaremoana area (Urewera Natl. Park); there it occurs on ground, soil banks, exposed roots, rotted stumps and bryophyte-covered logs, etc., in forests between 540 and 1320 m (where recorded). It is also locally abundant in the Waipoua Agathis australis forests, where it is associated with Hymenophyllum, Dicranoloma and Trichocolea over rotten logs. The plant is known from several South Island localities, all in Western Nelson, with a southern limit in the Brunner Ra., occurring abundantly on humus in a Podocarpus – N. fusca forest. It has been found with Bazzania adnexa, Chiloscyphus echinellus, Heteroscyphus billardierei, Hymenophyllum demissum, Kurzia hippuroides, Lepicolea scolopendra, Lepidozia kirkii, Leptoscyphus australis, Rhizogonium distichum, R. pennatum, Telaranea herzogii, Wijkia extenuata, Zoopsis argentea var. flagelliformis and Z. setulosa.
Comments : Telaranea gibbsiana is one of our largest Telaranea species and is most closely allied to T. grossiseta of Tasmania. Both are relatively robust plants (for the genus), with a high disc, ciliiform leaf lobes, and the cells of the uniseriate row distinctly elongated and capillary. The septa are thickened in the corners and swollen and projecting (Fig. 56: 7). Similar projecting septa occur in T. praenitens.
