Art. XLIX.—On New Zealand Mosses.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 27, 1894, Page 403

Art. XLIX.—On New Zealand Mosses. By T. W. Naylor Beckett, F.L.S. [Read before the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute, 5th November, 1894.] Plate XXVIII. Blindia tenuifolia, H. f. and W., in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot., iii., p. 542 (Dicranum). Plate XXVIII. “Gaulis breviusculus. Folia secunda, falcata, inferne anguste elliptica, sensim longe tenuiterque capillari-subulata, marginibus incurvis, nervo supra basin a lamina indistincto, cellulis elongatis angustis, alaribus pluribus pallide fuscis in folii basi adscendentibus; perichaetialia basi brevi suborbiculata, convoluta, nervo longe excurrente. Theca in pedunculo brevi crassiusculo, erecta, breviter ovalis, turbinata, operculo subulato, peristomii dentibus brevibus infra os insidentibus. Hab. Fuegia, Hermite Island.—Hooker. “Caulis uncialis. Folia fusca, inferiora nigrescentia. Pedunculus 3-linearis. Cellulae alares haud incrassatae sed laxae, ab aliis basilaribus vix distinctae.”—Mitten, “Musci Austro-Americani,” p. 56. Dicranum tenuifolium, H. f. and W., Fl. Tasm., ii., p. 180, t. clii., f. 7. Hab. In a shallow tarn on the top of Mount Thompson, Stewart Island; No. 401: R. Brown. I am indebted to Mr. Robert Brown, of Christchurch, for specimens of this rare moss, which he gathered in April, 1892, on Mount Thompson, the only known habitat in New Zealand. It was originally found by Hooker in Hermite Island, and was in 1888 found in Tasmania by Mr. W. A. Weymouth, in swampy ground at the top of Mount Wellington. I am indebted to him for copious specimens named by Dr. V. F. Brotherus, which have enabled me with certainty to identify the Mount Thompson plant. The plate in Fl. Tasm. does not give a figure of the well-marked suborbiculate perichaetial leaves suddenly narrowed into a long subulate apex. Hedwigia microcyathea, C. Müll., in Bot. Zeit., 1851. “Very like H. ciliata, but the leaves have angular, elliptical, rather firm cells, scarcely or not at all crenulate at their walls, those in the middle longer, papillose, and without chlorophyll, therefore not obscure. Capsule minute, hemispherical, cup-shaped, with large mouth and very thick plicate neck.” No. 347. On boulders, Birdling's Flat, Banks Peninsula. Identified by Dr. Karl Müller. Not uncommon in the South

Island on dry exposed rocks. Penrose, near Auckland; T. F. Cheeseman; No. 139. Mr. Kirk informs me that it has only been found at Penrose in the North Island, and there confined to a space not exceeding a few square yards. Mr. Mitten, in his “Australian Mosses,” gives H. microcyathea, C.M., as a synonym of H. ciliata, but Dr. Hampe (Suppl. Frag. Phyt. Austr., xi., p. 49) and Dr. V. F. Brotherus consider it a good species. Funaria sphaerocarpa, C. Müll. “F. hygrometrica simillima, folia anguste oblongo-lanceolata, semper complicate crispata, nervo valido excurrente percursa, ubique e cellulis elongatis laxis, ad marginem angustioribus reticulata, integerrima, perigonialia integra; theca majuscula siccitate et madore globosa, collo carens, leviter sulcata. Patria: Australasia, ad rupes maritimas, Green Cape, Twofold Bay; Mossman; No. 834.”—C. Müller, in “Botanische Zeitung,” 1851, p. 546. Hab. This moss is common throughout New Zealand and the islands—Stewart Island, W. Bell; Chatham Islands, T. Kirk; Great Barrier Island, Hutton. I have also specimens of it from Victoria, Queensland, and Tasmania. The important character distinguishing this moss from the cosmopolitan F. hygrometrica is its entire perigonial leaves. In F. hygrometrica they are serrated at the apex (Schimp., Syn., p. 384; Braith, Brit. M. Fl., ii., p. 136). There are doubts as to the validity of this species, and neither Mr. Mitten nor Mr. Boswell recognizes its claim to specific rank. Dr. Hampe, however, upheld Dr. Müller in considering it distinct from Funaria hygrometrica. Neckera (Rhystophyllum) hymenodonta, C. Müll. “Habitus, folia et folii reticulatio N. pennatæ, folia caulina magis eroso-denticulata; perist. d. ext. angustiuscule lanceolato-subulati, flavidi, opaci, superne rugulosi, int. in membrana altiuscula tenerrima albida positi, inferne moniliformi-articulati, superne capillares, persistentes punctulati subcarinati, Patria: Van Diemen's Land, ad truncos arborum frutiscenti densi infra Bek River, prope Launceston; coll. S. Mossman; No. 746.”—Karl Müller, in “Botanische Zeitung,” 1851, p. 564. Neckera pennata, var. Tasmanica, Hampe, in “Linnaea,” 1852. Neckera pennata, Wils., in Hooker's Fl. Tasm., ii., p. 204. Hab. Common in damp bush, growing on rocks and trees, from Stewart Island (W. Bell) to Auckland. No. 355 (T. W. N. B.), Akaroa, named by Dr. Müller. Mr. Mitten (“Australian Mosses,” p. 35) and Dr. Brotherus consider this a good species, and distinct from the

European moss; and Dr. Hampe, in his latest publication (in F. v. Mueller's Frag. Phyt. Austr., 1880, xi., p. 49), also dopts this view. Explanation of Plate XXVIII. Blindia tenuifolia, H. f. and W. From Mount Thompson plant: 2. Leaf, × 32. 3. Comal leaf seen sideways, × 32. 4. Alar cells, × 270. 5. Cells of leaf, × 270. From Tasmanian plant: 6. Perichaetial leaf, × 32. 7. Capsule, × 32. 8. Capsule old and dry, × 32.