Lepidozia obtusiloba var. parvula J.J.Engel
Holotype: New Zealand, South Is., Westland Prov., Arthur’s Pass Natl. Park, Kelly Ra., vicinity of Carroll Hut, above Kellys Creek, N of Otira, 1150 m, Engel 18382 (F); iso- type: (CHR).
[Fig. 34: 4, oil-bodies, p. 220]
Plants small (similar to Lepidozia concinna in size or smaller), procumbent to (exceptionally) suberect, brown, yellow-brown to greenish; branches spreading and not distinctly secund; leaves narrowly inserted, easily detached, 0.5–0.7 mm wide × 0.7 mm long.
Distribution and Ecology : Endemic to New Zealand: South Island (135–1400 m), North Island (1100–1270 m). Known from Southland, Otago, Westland, Canterbury (Sealy Ra., Arthur’s Pass), Sounds–Nelson, Southern North Island and Gisborne (Urewera Natl. Park) EPs.
The var. parvula typically occurs in rock crevices or damp to dripping, often shaded, rock faces in alpine or penalpine sites (in the latter case, particularly under shrub cover, and here sporadically terrestrial). It also may occur in very wet niches, such as at the edges of tarns between tussock and covered by a layer of old tussock blades. On vertical banks of alpine rills it may form very tight compact populations with little more than the tips of each shoot exposed. The variety also (sporadically) occurs in upper-elevation forests of Nothofagus menziesii or N. solandri var. cliffortioides and only rarely at median or lower elevations.
Comments : Plants assigned to the var. parvula have an appearance quite distinct from more typical, well-developed plants of the species, being typically procumbent, with branches spreading and not distinctly secund. The leaves are smaller than in var. obtusiloba, more narrowly inserted and easily detached, and have disc cells often more strongly thick-walled. The color varies from brown to pale yellowish brown to greenish. They share with the typical form a brownish pigmentation, similarly shaped (though smaller) leaves, and shallowly lobed, widely spreading to squarrose underleaves.
The variety may be distinguished from Lepidozia concinna by the presence of brown pigments, or (when greenish) by the shorter, broader underleaf lobes, the distinctly asymmetrical leaves with a shallow dorsal sinus (which may be reduced to a mere notch) and the smaller, thick-walled median disc cells. It differs from L. laevifolia by the larger shoot size, the presence of brown pigments, and the imbricate, strongly asymmetric leaves that are not distinctly cup-shaped when dry.
