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tasmanian liverworts - lepidoziaceae

neolepidozia tridactylis (Lehm. et Lindenb.) E.D.Cooper, comb. nov. (telaranea tridactylis)

Telaranea tridactylis shoot
1. habit

 

We discovered this growing at the base of a tree at 750m altitude on the Blue Tier. It is apparently a common Telaranea sp. in Tasmania, mainly collected from the southern and eastern parts of the state - probably because collectors rarely venture to the the north-east. One exception is Rodway's collection of this species from the Blue Tier under the name T. praenitens

Main stems have pinnate (Frullania type) branching (pix 2), sometimes with double pinnate branches growing at near right angles to the originating stem. Flagellate branching was uncommon on the small sample observed but there were some robust ventral branching (pix 1).

Leaves (pix 4) lack the typical tiered rows of sub-quadrate cells but a stem cross section shows 13 enlarged cortical cells surrounding the 39 medullary cells in the core. Main shoots carried 4-fid leaves but the weaker branches had only 3-fid leaves. Again main stems had 4-fid underleaves often sporting rhozoids with ramified tips. Branch half leaves were 2-fid with diverging lobes.
Leaves were distant on the main stems but branch leaves overlapped. There were from 1-3 botroidal oil bodies occupying a small part of the cell lumen (pix 7).

Cooper et al have recently placed this in the genus Neolepidozia.

Telaranea tridactylis branch
2. branch
Telaranea tridactylis stem cells
3. stem cells
Telaranea tridactylis leaf
4. leaf
Telaranea tridactylis underleaf
5. underleaf
Telaranea tridactylis leaf lobe
6. leaf lobe
Telaranea tridactylis leaf cells
7. leaf cells

 

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, J.J. & Glenny, D., A Flora of the Liverworts and Hornworts of New Zealand, Vol 1, p. 281 f; ISBN 978-1-930723-67-2
- Cooper, E.D., et al, Notes on Early Land Plants Today. 38. New combinations and synonyms in Lepidoziaceae (Marchantiophyta), Phytotaxa 97 (2): 52 – 62 (2013)

Page URL: http://www.bluetier.org/Liverwort/telaranea-tridactylis.htm

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