Lepicolea scolopendra (Hook.) Dumort. ex Trevis.
-
Authority
Fulford, Margaret H. 1963. Manual of the leafy Hepaticae of Latin America--Part I. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 11: 1-172.
-
Family
Lepicoleaceae
-
Scientific Name
-
Description
Species Description - Stems stout, yellow-brown, often hoary, ascending to erect in deep cushions or tufts or pendulous; stems coarse, to 10 cm or more long, with leaves to 2 mm wide, without paraphyllia, regularly pinnate; lateral branches 5 mm or more apart, long, spreading, often becoming attenuate-flagelliform and decurved in the outer part. Rhizoids colorless, on the scales of the flagelliform branches. Line of leaf insertion transverse. Stem leaves large, subrectangular, subsymmetric, to 2.8 mm long, 0.9 mm wide, bisbifid; segments long, lanceolate, without cilia or laciniae, the margins crenulate, ending in a long, hyaline, uniseriate tip, the end cell 140-180 µ long; dorsal margin of the lamina convex, crenulate, with to 12 hyaline cilia, two to ten cells long (in the South American plants), the ventral margin crenulate; cells of the lamina tending to be in rows, those below the segments 40-54 X 18-24 g, the trigones large, coalesced, the wall thick, wavy, the cuticle striate; a vitta of elongate cells extending from the base up into the segments. Underleaves symmetric, scarcely smaller than the leaves. Branch leaves and underleaves smaller. Plants dioicous. Male inflorescence intercalary on a lateral branch, the bracts and bracteoles in two to sixteen or more series, concave, similar to the branch leaves and underleaves, the margins with more cilia, the bracts pouched, the bracteoles plane; antheridia one or two, large, with paraphyses, in the axils of the bracts. Female bracts and bracteoles larger than the leaves and underleaves, with more cilia; archegonia to 35 or more. Coelocaule large, elongate, club-shaped, densely covered with paraphyllia and scales, bearing unfertilized archegonia at the tip. Elaters long, 12-15 µ wide, bispiral between solid, long-tapering ends; spores 33-37 µ. coarsely spinose. Fig. 1, a-d.
-
Discussion
Jungermania scolopendra W. J. Hooker, Musci Exot. 1: pl. 40. 1818. Schisma scolopendra C. G. Nees ms. Sendtnera scolopendra C. G. Nees in G. L. & N. Syn. Hep. 241. 1845. Lepcroma scolopendra Mitten in J. D. Hooker, Handb. N. Zeal. Fl. 275. 1867.
-
Distribution
Habitat: On the ground in erect tufts or on trees.
New Zealand Australia Oceania| Fiji