Hypnodendron spininervium (Hook.) A.Jaeger subsp. spininervium

Authority

Buck, William R. 1987. Bryostephane Steereana: A Collection of Bryological Papers Presented to William Campbell Steere On The Occasion of His 80th Birthday. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 45: 1-749.

Family

Hypnodendraceae

Scientific Name

Hypnodendron spininervium (Hook.) A.Jaeger subsp. spininervium

Discussion

n = 9. Figs. 16-18, 61j-1.

The two subspecies ofH. spininervium are geographically isolated with the subspecies spininervium occurring in New Zealand and the Chatham Islands, while the subspecies archeri is distributed in southem Australia (Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales). Touw (1971) did not record it from New South Wales but a number of reliably named collections have now been located (Ramsay, 1984). This species, in section Hypnodendron, is related to H. microstichum (Touw, 1971), the only South American species. Touw (1971) noted that these two latter species deviate from the rest of the section Hypnodendron in their stipe leaves and the tomentose stipe, which is glabrous in other members.

There are no previous chromosome records for H. spininervium. The single population studied here from the North Island, New Zealand (Table I, Appendix I) had the chromosome number n = 9, based on meiotic studies (Figs. 16, 18, 61-1). The complement consisted of bivalents more uniformly-sized than in other species, three being slightly smaller (Fig. 17). The smallest disjoined precociously in some ceUs (Fig. 6 Ij). The count was confirmed at both metaphase I (Fig. 16) and anaphase I (Fig. 18). Alignment ofthe bivalents (Fig. 17) shows them to be comparable in number, n = 9, and size range with those in the two other species studied in this section, H. marginatum and H. vitiense.