Appendix

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 87, 1959, Page 199

Appendix I am indebted to Dr. R. E. Hatcher, of Illinois, for the information that Trevisan (1877) segregated L. Magellanica into a new genus Gackstromia on the basis of its peculiar fruiting structure. As already described, this structure is glabrous with a piliferous mouth, with ± sheathing floral leaves, also piliferous. I think it is no more generically distinct than is L. Menziesii, with paraphyllous stems and a long, rigid tubular coelocaule with the wall 8 cells thick. In other respects both of these taxa are essentially lepidolaenoid. After much thought, I prefer to keep the original genus intact with 3 sections. As Article 60 of the Code does not make it mandatory for authors to retain the existing name when changing the rank of the taxon, I retain the section as sec. Dolicotricha in preference to the ugly sounding name of Gackstromia. Lepidolaena is a genus of the Southern Hemisphere excluding South Africa, consisting of 14 species, 8 of which are found in New Zealand and the subantarctic islands, 4 of these being described by Hooker senr. (1818–1820) in his Musci Exotici, 3 as new species under the generic name of Jungermannia. In 1835 Dumortier briefly described the unusual inflorescence under the heading of Lepidolaena. He then listed 3 of Hooker's species, L. claviger, L. palpebrifolia and L. Menziesii without any comment and with no reference which would identify them. L. Magellanica, the earliest of the species to be discovered and described, was apparently unknown to Dumortier. In spite of the inadequate description and the invalid combinations, the name of Lepidolaena is considered valid and remains inviolable. Lindberg (1873) drew attention to Dumortier's little known generic names and the fact that they must take precedence over later names then in use. The position of Lepidolaena within the present framework of taxonomy is obscure. The old family Ptilidiaceae to which it belonged with 14 other genera, including Trichocolea, is in process of being dismantled. A new suborder, Ptilidiinae, has been inaugurated (Schuster, 1958), and new groupings in new families are emerging, but it is doubtful if a satisfactory arrangement will ever be arrived at. Trichocolea has already been segregated by K. Muller (1945, p. 586) followed by R. Hatcher (1958, p. 237), who states that Trichocoleaceae is based upon the development of a coelocaule or stem perianth, and the absence of a true perianth. If this is an adequate basis for the segregation of this family, then Lepiodolaena must also be included in Trichocoleaceae, as the species of this genus have stem perianths or coelocaules, though in different forms. Also the leaves of L. Menziesii with their long, articulated cilia strongly resemble the leaves of Neotrichocolea and Tricho-

coleopsis, 2 genera from Japan. Also, I learn from Dr. S. Hattori of that country, that the long coelocaule of L. Menziesii resembles that of Trichocolea tomentella and Neotrichocolea Bissetti, while the stem perianths of other species resembles those of Trichocoleopsis sacculata, which has saccate lobules to the leaf, though these are not clavate as in Lepidolaena and the subgenus Diastoloba of Frullania. On the other hand, Lepidolaena has incubous leaves, while Trichocolea has them succubous. The forms of the coelocaule in Lepidolaena are so diverse that I have felt obliged to divide the genus at least into sections, though the idea of new genera has not been discountenanced. These 3 new sections are as follows: Lepidolaena sec. nov. Planta parva vel magna, caulis nudus, coelocaule non elongato, dense paraphyllifero. L. clavigera, L. palpebrifolia, L. Taylori, L. reticulata, L. Berggrenii, L. allophylla probably, as inflorescences are unknown. Dolichocarpa sec. nov. Planta robusta, pallida, interdum brunnescentia, caulis paraphylliferus, coelocaule elongato, ad 8 mm longo, infra tubulato, pauciparaphyllifero, superne latiore. L. Menziesii. Dolicotricha sec. nov. Planta robusta, rufo-brunnea, caulis nudus, coelocaule non elongato, nudo, folia floralia plurijuga, concava, dense longeque pilifera, pseudoperianthium formantia. L. Magellanica. Lapidolaena Dumortier Recueil d'Observations sur les Jungermanniacées Fasc. 1, 1835. Polyotus Gottsche in G. L. et N. Syn. Hep., 244, 1845. Plants dioicous (in New Zealand), minute to robust, usually sterile, variously coloured, usually scrambling on or through other vegetation or creeping on bark. Stems short to very long, much branched, branches from the axils of the leaves, regularly short or with long ones intervening, or as subfloral innovations of unlimited length; cortical cells oblong to quadrate. Leaves incubous, bilobed, of the stem, remote to slightly imbricate, plane or amplexicaul, entire or toothed, ventral lobe or lobule usually saccate, often conjoined with a spinous lamina; leaves of the branches smaller, often more toothed or ciliate than the cauline. Cells small with thick walls (in L. Magellanica) to fairly large, trigones various, cuticle smooth or lowly papillose. Underleaves bi- or quadrifid on the main stem with margins of the segments entire or toothed; on the branches the segments are both plane and saccate, often reduced to 2 only, rhizoids when present arising from a basal lamina. ♀ Inflorescence terminal on a primary stem, in the fork of 2 branches rising at an acute angle; floral leaves and underleaves dense, large and irregularly shaped; archegonia numerous at the extremity of the stem, infertile ones carried upward with the growth of the calyptra which is adnate with a prolongation of the stem tissue, surrounding the developing sporophyte, this perigynium forming a coelocaule, of 3 different types (in New Zealand), which is naked or vested sparingly or densely with entire or toothed paraphylls. ♂ inflorescence in pairs along a ♂ branch, or terminal in 2 or 3 pairs on vegetative branches; bracts bilobed, conduplicate, lobules inflated, subequal to the lobes, antheridia single, not always present. A distinct genus of the Southern Hemisphere (except South Africa), containing 14 described species, 8 of which are in New Zealand and the subantarctic islands, and 2 more in Tasmania (one undescribed).