save the Blue Tier
tasmanian liverworts - lepidoziaceae
telaranea herzogii
1. Telaranea herzogii stem with uniseriate leaves
This is probably the smallest plant to be found on the Blue Tier with stems a scant 0.05 mm wide. The leaves comprise of a pair of lobes of single cell width barely joined at the base. It sports minute underleaves which are just visible in the image above.
We first discovered this tangled within a small sample of Zoopsis argentea under a dark ledge near a stream; a subsequent collection yielded the perianth (pix 3).
A second similar looking species reported for Tasmania, T. inaquelis, has the 2 leaf lobes of unequal length. It has been recorded from the Gordon River in the west as well as from NZ. We have no idea if this is found on the Blue Tier. A third species, T. tasmanica, has paired cells at the leaf base where it joins the stem. It is only found in Tasmania.
Sporophytes were sighted in late September. Asexual reproduction is reportedly unknown for the species.
 2. branching |
 3. perianth |
 4. sporophyte |
References
- Engel JJ & Smith Merrill GL (2004) Austral Hepaticae. 35. A
taxonomic and phylogenetic study of Telaranea (Lepidoziaceae),
with a monograph of the genus in temperate Australasia and
commentary on extra-Australasian taxa. Fieldiana Botany,
New Series 44. University of Illinois provides several free versions of this monograph - the pdf file is around 30MB
- Engel JJ & Glenny D A Flora of the Liverworts and
Hornworts of New Zealand, Vol 1, p. 350-357; ISBN 978-1-930723-67-2