New Zealand Hepaticae (Liverworts)—XIV. Drucella, a New Genus of the Lepidoziaceae

Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand : Botany, Volume 2, Issue 3, 10 December 1962, Page 45

New Zealand Hepaticae (Liverworts) —XIV. Drucella , a New Genus of the Lepidoziaceae

E. Amy Hodgson

By

[.Received by the Editor October 17, 1962 .]

Segregate genera which have already been alienated from the original genus Lepidozia are, Sprucella Stephani 1887, Telaranea (Spruce ex Sydow) Schiffner 1895, Microlepidozia (Spruce) Joergensen 1934, Lepidoziopsis Hodgson 1962.* The new genus, which I propose to call Drucella, differs outstandingly from all of these in the seemingly complete absence of all vegetative terminal branching—that is, branching from any portion of any of the segments of the apical growing point, with the consequent absence of all incomplete leaves along the stem. All the vegatative branches are intercalary, arising from the axils of the lateral leaves (no sexual branches were seen) and no ventral branches either foliose or flagelliform are present.

Furthermore, the underleaves are poorly developed and the cells are of a unique type. Dmcella Hodgson gen. nov. Lepidozia p. p. The characters of the genus are those of the species Lepidozia integristipula Stephani. Generitypus Lepidozia integristipula Stephani.

Drucella integristipula (Steph.) Hodgson comb. nov. Lepidozia integristipula Steph. Spec. Hep., vi, 331, 1924. Planta sterilis, minima, depressa, intricata. Caulis flexuosus, decumbens, apice saepe decurvo, rami pauci, longi, omnes intercalares in axillis foliorum lateralium, flagellis nullis, stolonibus frequentibus, foliis bifidis, distantibus. Folia normaliter trifida, segmenta tertia minore, amphigastria parva, segmentis brevibus vel subnullis in depauperatis. Cellulae foliorum übique propriae, rectangulares, parietibus confluentibus, caulis elongato-rectangulares. Plants very small, pale, lowly depressed, intricate. Stems flexuous, often decurved or hamate at the apex, less than Icm, rarely more than o.scm long, o.lmm wide, vegetative branches few, long, all lateral and intercalary from the axils of the lateral leaves, flagella absent, rhizoids basal, stolons numerous with distant bifid leaves, sexual branches not seen; cortex with cells in 10-12 rows, rectangular,

60-80/x x 40 fi wide. Leaves incubous, o.3mm long when well grown, normally 3-fid to obliquely to sub-horizontally inserted, asymmetric in that the third lobe (ventral) is usually poorly developed, sub-cuneate. Discus 3-4 cells high in well developed leaves and 6 cells across, segments narrowly triangular from a base of 2-3 cells and terminating in a uniseriate row of usually 3 cells, the third or ventral segment more or less diminutive; branch leaves similar, on stolons, smaller, bifid. TJnderleaves variable, from a base of 2-4 cells high, 2-3 lobed, lobes usually 2-3 cells long or less in poor-conditioned plants, such as Stephani’s type, appearing little more than crenate, not, or scarcely as wide as the stem to which they are mostly set at right angles. Cells characteristic, rectangular to rectangular-quadrate, from 40-50/a long x 20-25/1 wide, all separate with thick confluent walls; of the under-leaves, smaller, quadrate.

Viewed ventrally, the branches, which originate on the abaxial (ventral) side of the leaf, partly obscure the leaf, being almost as wide as the leaf-base, and sometimes reaching well across the stem. Dorsally, the leaf obstructs the view

of the basal part of the branch. The branch is not endogenous, but seems to be superficially attached to the stem from which it is readily detachable.

Distribution. North Island: Great Barrier Island, 6060, 6143, “poor condition”, T. Kirk, CHR; on clay, Coromandel, 3843 S. Berggren, 1874; Akatarawa V., A. P. Druce, 12/1/47, 783, Herb. E. A. Hodgson.

As there is some doubt as to which of Kirk’s specimens was Stephani’s type, I have chosen 783 as a lectotype of the species, a much better specimen than either of Kirk’s. The genus is named for H. M. and A. P. Druce, whose collections of hepatics have been most valuable.

Also from Dividing Range, Eamslaw, Victoria, Berggren, 1874; Black’s Spur, near Healesville, Victoria, coll. R. A. Bastow, 11/11/1900, as Lepidozia patentissima, mis. J. H. Willis, 62W.

Bibliography

Fulford, M., and Taylor, J., 1959. The Segregate Genera of the Lepidozia Complex. Britt. 2, 77-85. Hodgson, E. A., 1956. N.Z. Hepaticae 9. Review of the N.Z. Species of the Genus

Lepidozia. Trans. Roy. Soc. N.Z., 83, 589-620. tion ” collections from the Auckland and Campbell Islands. Records, Dominion Museum, vol. 4, no. 11, 101-132. Stephani, Fr., 1924. Species Hepaticarum VI, 33.

Mrs. E. A. Hodgson, Kiwi Valley, Awamate R.D., Wairoa, Hawke’s Bay.

* Neolepidozia Fulford & J. Taylor, is not considered separable from Telaranea (Hodgson, 1962).