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tasmanian liverworts - lepidoziaceae
lepidozia laevifolia var. laevifolia
1. shoot
This came in with a small quantity of Hypopterygium didictyon from debris overlying rocks near running water in Nothofagus country. It is reported to be distributed in NZ as well as in Tasmania, NSW and Victoria in Australia
Leaves had small cells on the borders, larger towards the center of the disk and very large at the point of attachment to stem (pix 2). There were 2-5(-7) botryoidal oil bodies occupying a small part of the cell lumen (pix 5). Pipallae were prominent on the leaf lobes.
Close examination revealed the existence of gynoecia (pix 6) as well as previous season's perianth (pix 8). Dissection of the peranth revealed several sporelings (pix 9) at various stages of development. They were still at the protonema stage but from what we understand it was not too far from developing the first set of leaves.
 2. leaf |
 3. leaf details |
 4. leaf lobe papillae |
 5. cells |
 6. gynoecia |
 7. archegonia |
 8. perianth and details |
 9. sporeling |
[Thanks to EB for identification]
References
- Engel, J.J. & Glenny, D., A Flora of the Liverworts and
Hornworts of New Zealand, Vol 1, p. 227; ISBN 978-1-930723-67-2
Page URL: http://www.bluetier.org/Liverwort/lepidozia-laevifolia.htm