Lepidozia concinna Colenso
Lepidozia concinna Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 18: 244. 1886.
Type: New Zealand, Waipawa Co., near Norsewood, 1885, Colenso a. 1417 (BM!, WELT!).
Lepidozia latiloba Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 19: 287. 1887 (1886).
Type: New Zealand, Waipawa Co., near Norsewood, 1886, Colenso a. 1421 (BM!, WELT!).
Lepidozia colensoana Steph., Sp. Hepat. 3: 597. 1909, syn. fide Engel and Schuster (2001).
Type: New Zealand, Lake Waikare, Colenso 1021 (G! – c. per. + seta).
Plants procumbent, the stems interwoven, rather flexuous, with spreading branches, green, highly nitid, the shoots medium, to 1.7 cm wide, including branches. Branching nearly exclusively of Frullania type, often long, closely and regularly pinnate, the primary branches often becoming whip-like, flagelliform, microphyllous and rooting in the substrate, with secondary branches occasional; branch half-leaf symmetrical, cordate, 2-lobed to ca. 0.3; first branch underleaf 2–4-lobed, inserted on ventral to ventral-lateral side of branch and aligned with underleaves of branch. Ventral-intercalary branching occasional, leafy. Leaves when dry curved ventrally, the shoots (particularly branches) then appearing braided, the main shoot leaves concave, loosely imbricate and not obscuring stem in dorsal view, 0.6–0.85 mm long at longest point, (0.7)0.8–1 mm wide at widest point, spreading, the insertion weakly to strongly incubous; leaves variable in shape on the same stem, subsymmetrical to weakly asymmetrical (except for the ampliate dorsal base), subequally 4(5)-lobed, the leaves divided to ca. 0.4–0.6 (median sinus), the distance from dorsal sinus base to insertion greater than that from ventral sinus to insertion, the dorsal sinus shallow or the sinuses gradually becoming deeper ventrally. Lobes acute to apiculate, entire, terminating in a uniseriate row of 2–3(6) cells, the cells of uniseriate row ± isodiametric, thick-walled; dorsal lobes 5–7(9) cells wide at base; surface of lobes smooth or finely striate-papillose. Disc subsymmetric, 12–19 cells high at dorsal sinus, 9–11 cells high at ventral sinus, the margins entire, the dorsal margin ampliate but not strongly so, ± cordate at the base, the ventral not much shorter than the dorsal. Cells in a well-defined, large median field, ± isodiametric to occasionally oblong-hexagonal, thick-walled, trigones medium and straight-sided to large and bulging (rarely weak and concave-sided), (24)26–41 µm wide × (32)34–45(49) µm long; cells of the ampliate portion smaller; median basal cells not sharply differentiated; surface of disc smooth. Oil-bodies (Engel and Schuster, 2001) in median/subapical cells (1)2–5(6) per cell, coarsely botryoidal, small, spherical to ovoid, 3.6–4 × 3.6–5 µm up to 5 × 11 µm; basal cells with 4–8 oil-bodies of similar size (4 × 5 µm to 4.5–5 × 6–9 µm). Underleaves inserted on 10 rows of stem cells, widely spreading, ca. 1–1.2× stem width, narrowed to insertion, symmetrically 4-fid to ca. 0.45–0.55 (median sinus), the lobes incurved, plane, somewhat spreading, slenderly attenuate, entire, terminating in a single cell or uniseriate row of 2–3(5) cells; disc 7–9 cells high at median sinus, the margins plane, broadly curved, entire. Fungal partner an ascomycete.
Androecia not seen. Perianth (fide Stephani, 1898–1924 [1909]) broadly oblong, the mouth constricted and entire; capsule broadly oval; spores 18 µm in diam., reddish brown; elaters bispiral, laxly twisted.
Distribution and Ecology : New Zealand: South Island (150–915 m), North Island (650–920 m); Australia: Tasmania. In New Zealand known from Fiordland, Otago, Westland, Sounds–Nelson (Richmond Ra.), Volcanic Plateau (Tongariro Natl. Park, Waiotapu) and Gisborne (Urewera Natl. Park) EPs.
A forest plant, often in extensive patches and becoming abundant, occurring on old, decaying logs or, less often, over soil; the species occurs along a broad elevational gradient (150–920 m).
Comments : The leaves of Lepidozia concinna typically are subsymmetrically to weakly asymmetrically lobed, with the lobes not notably—and never consistently—in pairs (Fig. 36: 3, 4). The underleaves are somewhat wider than the stem, narrowed to the insertion (Fig. 36: 1, 2), inserted on 10 rows of stem cells (Fig. 36: 11), and with the lobes slenderly attenuate and often broadly incurved (Fig. 36: 1, 2). A notable feature of this species is the well-defined median field of large disc cells (to 40 µm wide); the cells are in large part ± isodiametric and typically have medium to large and bulging trigones (Fig. 36: 6, 7). Lepidozia concinna is usually readily recognized because of the deeply lobed underleaves, with attenuated lobes, often 3–4 cells broad at the base (Fig. 36: 8, 11). The plants are uniformly green, lacking secondary pigmentation, which will immediately distinguish this species from the L. obtusiloba complex.
