Flora of New Zealand Series

Kurzia quadriseta var. trilobata R.M.Schust., J. Hattori. Bot. Lab. 48: 363. f. 3. 1980.

Telaranea trilobata (R.M.Schust.) J.J.Engel & Merrill, Fieldiana, Bot. 44: 89. 2004. 

Holotype: New Zealand, North Is., Tongariro Natl. Park, Soda Springs, head of Mangatepopo Stream, near saddle between Mts. Ngauruhoe and Tongariro, ca. 4500 ft., Schuster 5110a (F).

Plants light green to grass-green, with whitish stems, in densely interwoven mats or caespitose and erect, nitid when dry; shoots to 5 mm wide (including branches). Branching irregularly and rather sparingly 1-pinnate, with branches of the Frullania type on one side, Microlepidozia type on the other, the branches suberect to ascending; branch half-leaf of Frullania -type branch undivided to 2-lobed nearly to base, the first branch underleaf undivided to 2– 3-lobed, inserted on the ventral-lateral side of branch base or the juncture of main shoot and branch and aligned with underleaves of branch; first appendage (ventral half-leaf) of Microlepidozia -type branch bilobed or undivided. Ventral-intercalary branches occasional, leafy or geotropic and stoloniform; lateral-intercalary branches occasional to rather freely produced. Stem with cortical cells moderately thick-walled, in 9–12 rows, larger than the medullary cells, which are in 6–7 to 12–14 rows. Leaves strongly spreading, approximate, transversely inserted, symmetrically 3(4)-lobed, 350–475 µm wide (500–550 µm wide in 4-lobed leaves) × 350–450 µm long, the lobes divergent; branch leaves subcontiguous, weakly succubously oriented, mostly 3-lobed. Lobes ciliiform, uniseriate to the base, inserted on a triangular base composed of 2–4 cells, sporadically with an additional biseriate tier above the base, the uniseriate portion 4–5 cells long, the lobe cells elongated (2–3:1), gradually shorter distally, rather thick-walled; surface smooth or finely striate-papillose. Disc 6–8 cells broad at insertion, 2(3) cells high, including basal cells of lobes. Cells of disc not much differentiated from lobe cells, oblong to rectangular, 22–30 µm wide × 48–64(72) µm long; surface smooth or finely striate-papillose. Underleaves 3(4)-lobed, the lobes mostly 4 cells long, uniseriate or 2-seriate in basal tier, formed of elongated cells as on leaves, the middle lobe often abbreviated, terminating in a slime papilla; disc 6–8 cells wide, 1–2 cells high, the cells small and ± isodiametric.

Dioecious. Androecia not seen. Gynoecia (only juvenile known) on short lateral-intercalary branches.

Distribution and Ecology : Endemic to New Zealand: Stewart Island (5 m), South Island (430–680 m), North Island (1230–1370 m). Known from Fiordland (Borland Burn), Westland (Haast Pass) and Volcanic Plateau (Mt. Ruapehu) EPs.

Known from only a few collections, all in humid micro-niches. On Stewart Island the species was found near sea level in a mosaic of stagnant ponds, Sphagnum bog, open Leptospermum scoparium – Dracophyllum heath to 1–2 m tall and dense communities of Gleichenia dicarpa and Empodisma minus. At this site the species occurred on the floor under very dense Gleichenia cover adjacent to a water channel. In the southern sector of the South Island the species occurred at 680 m on a protected rock face at the margin of a waterfall within a Nothofagus forest (Fiordland Natl. Park, above South Branch of Borland Burn). At the Blue River–Makarora River confluence (Aspiring Natl. Park, 430–480 m) the species occurred on vertical, dripping, cliff faces under Blechnum cover in a bryophyte-rich Nothofagus menziesii forest. It occurred on Mt. Ruapehu (Blyth Track, ca. 0.5 km from Ohakune Mtn. Road, Tongariro Natl. Park, ca. 1230 m) over soil on the lip of a stream bank within a forest dominated by Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortioides. The type was growing on moist volcanic soil in rocky areas along a stream, in a penalpine open area, associated with Temnoma quadrifidum and Triandrophyllum subtrifidum at 1370 m.

Comments : Telaranea trilobata most closely resembles T. pallescens, differing chiefly in the predominantly 3-lobed leaves and less sharply differentiated disc cells. The plants are regularly and suboppositely branched, with Microlepidozia -type branches on one side of the shoot and Frullania- type branches on the other. The underleaves in T. trilobata are dissimilarly 3–4-lobed, with 1–2 lobes abbreviated and ending in a slime papilla, and, like the leaves, have a distinct basal tier of cells at the base of the disc. The cortical cells of the stem are in 9–12 rows, with 6–7 to 12–14 rows of medullary cells.