Lepidozia microphylla (Hook.) Lindenb.
Jungermannia microphylla Hook., Musci Exot. 1: pl. 80, f. 1–6. 1818.
Mastigophora microphylla (Hook.) Mont. in d’Orbigny, Voy. Amér. Mér. 7, Bot. 2: 73. 1839.
Lepidozia microphylla (Hook.) Lindenb. in Gottsche, Lindenb. & Nees, Syn. Hepat. 202. 1845.
Type: New Zealand, South Is., Dusky Bay, Menzies (2), ex Kew, ex herb. Bescherelle (G!).
Lepidozia multipinna Steph., Sp. Hepat. 3: 591. 1909.
Type: New Zealand, Dall (G!).
Plants erect, rigid, distinctly wire-like, delicate in appearance, with drooping, ventrally secund branches, the branch axils (in field) with prominent, glistening droplets of water, the plants pale green (± straw-like color or whitish in herb.), the shoots to 4.5 cm wide, including branches. Branching mostly of Frullania type, consistently 2-pinnate (occasionally 3-pinnate), the branches whip-like, filiform-attenuate, the leaves scale-like, obliquely spreading, approximate; branch half-leaf often caducous; first branch underleaf 2–4-lobed, inserted on main axis in similar plane to leaves of main shoot. Ventral-intercalary branching occasional. Stems fleshy, rather brittle, the cortical cells in a distinct layer of cells larger in diameter than subepidermal cells; medullary cells thick-walled, the outer several rows with walls thicker than the median core cells. Leaves inconspicuous, scale-like, narrower than the stem, slightly concave, markedly distant, (340)385–420(450) µm long at longest point, (340)380–450(490) µm wide at widest point, strongly erect, commonly ± appressed to stem, occasionally feebly spreading, the insertion transverse to weakly incubous; leaves asymmetric, unequally 4-lobed, divided to ca. 0.4–0.5 (median sinus), the distance from dorsal sinus base to insertion greater than that from ventral sinus to insertion, the sinuses gradually becoming deeper ventrally. Lobes acuminate, entire, 4–5 cells wide at base, terminating in a uniseriate row of 2–4(5) cells; cells of uniseriate row ± isodiametric, thick-walled; surface as in disc. Disc asymmetric, 7–9 cells high at dorsal sinus, 3–5 cells high at ventral sinus, the margins entire, the dorsal margin straight to slightly curved. Cells of disc-middle thick-walled, ± isodiametric, 24–31 µm wide and long; surface faintly striate-papillose. Oil-bodies (Engel and Schuster, 2001) 2–5 per median cell, finely botryoidal and almost granular in aspect (the spherules small), the oil-bodies relatively large for cell size, 3.5 × 6.5 µm to, more usually, 4.5–5 × 7–11 µm. Underleaves minute, widely spreading, symmetrically quadrifid to ca. 0.3–0.4, the lobes abbreviated, only 3–5 cells long; disc 3–4(5) cells high at median sinus; disc margins entire. Fungal partner an ascomycete.
Plants dioecious. Androecia on inconspicuous, short, determinate, tightly spicate, ventral-intercalary branches from primary or secondary branches; bracts ventricose-cucullate, 2-lobed to ca. 0.3–0.4, the lobes acute to apiculate to short-acuminate; antheridial stalk biseriate. Gynoecia on abbreviated ventral-intercalary branches issuing from main stem; bracts of innermost series deeply concave to canaliculate, narrowly ovate; apices with 4 short, irregular lobes, the lobes crenate-denticulate to ciliate; lamina margin bordered by elongate, thin-walled, sinuate-rhomboidal cells that at their apical end occasionally diverge to form a projection, the margin irregularly crenate-denticulate to the base; bracteole similar in size and form. Perianth long and prominent, slenderly cylindrical-fusiform, terete below, obscurely trigonous above, distinctly 3-plicate toward mouth, the perianth gradually narrowing toward the contracted, shallowly 3-lobed mouth, the lobes composed of irregularly sinuate-rhomboidal cells that at the apical end are laterally free for varying lengths, the lobes crenate-denticulate to ciliate.
Capsule oblong, the wall 54–60 µm thick, of 4–5 layers; outer layer of cells with two-phase development, the longitudinal walls with sinuous, sheet-like thickenings and several small nodules alternating with walls that are devoid of thickenings (or are sporadically locally thickened), the transverse walls usually devoid of thickenings or sporadically with an isolated nodule; innermost layer of cells ± tiered, narrowly rectangular, with semiannular bands common, rather wide, close and numerous, usually complete.
Spores 10.1–11.9 µm in diam., spore wall pale brown, thin, with low, rather coarse, close papillae and short-vermiculate markings. Elaters rigid, nontortuous, 11–14.9 µm wide, only slightly tapering toward tips, bispiral, the spirals 3.4–4.8 µm wide.
Distribution and Ecology : Endemic to New Zealand: South Island (0–600 m), North Island (280–600 m), Chatham Islands. It occurs in the western, higher rainfall parts of the country, in Fiordland, Westland, Western Nelson, Auckland and Northland EPs.
A species typically of dense, wet, rich, lower-elevation forests with canopy dominants of Agathis australis, Dacrycarpus dacrydioides, Dacrydium cupressinum, Weinmannia racemosa, W. silvicola, Nothofagus menziesii and N. fusca. It typically occurs on the forest floor where it may form extensive, dense carpets. It is a locally common floor plant at some sites, such as rich mixed Nothofagus forests or kahikatea swamps, and often occurs in boggy, seepage niches. To a lesser extent it also may be found on old logs or tree bases (such as of Agathis australis).
The species is also able to tolerate more rigorous sites, such as near the summit of “Little Moehau” (Coromandel Forest Park, ca. 800–840 m). Here it formed very thick mats over old wood in an area of rocky outcrops and shrub-heath communities including Dracophyllum recurvum, Lepidothamnus laxifolius, Coprosma foetidissima, Oreobolus pectinatus and Corokia buddleioides. It may be found under Leptospermum scoparium scrub.
Accompanying species are: Achrophyllum dentatum, Adelanthus falcatus, Bazzania novae-zelandiae, Clandarium xiphophyllum, Distichophyllum pulchellum, Heteroscyphus cymbaliferus, Hymenophyton flabellatum, Hypnodendron menziesii, Canalohypopterygium tamariscinum, Isotachis montana, Lepidozia pendulina, L. spinosissima, Metzgeria leptoneura, Paraschistochila pinnatifolia, Plagiochila gigantea, Ptychomnion aciculare, Pyrrhobryum mnioides, Rhacocarpus purpurascens, Schistochila appendiculata, S. glaucescens, S. nobilis, Sphagnum australe, S. falcatulum, Telaranea tetradactyla, Thuidium laeviusculum, Trichocolea mollissima and Tylimanthus saccatus.
Comments : Lepidozia microphylla is immediately recognizable by the erect, fleshy, pale yellow-green shoots with rigid, distinctly wire-like, drooping, ventrally secund branches. The shoots are rather brittle when dry. The leaves are inconspicuous, distant and scale-like, nearly appressed to and narrower than the stem, and almost transversely inserted. A distinctive field character of the species is the presence of tiny, glistening water droplets in the branch axils.
The stem is unique among our species of the genus in having a rather well-defined hyaloderm, surrounding a layer 1–2(3) strata thick of somewhat smaller, very thick-walled cells that gradually grade into a firm-walled medulla (Engel and Schuster, 2001, fig. 9: 14).
