Bazzania bernieri (Steph.) Inoue & H.A.Mill.

Thouvenot, Louis, 2024, A revision of the genus Bazzania Gray (Lepidoziaceae, Marchantiophyta) in New Caledonia with a review of the type specimens, Cryptogamie, Bryologie 20 (6), pp. 117-154 : 126-128

Bazzania bernieri (Steph.) Inoue & H.A.Mill.

( Figs 2A, B ; 5 )

Bulletin of the National Science Museum, Tokyo, n.s. 8 (2): 142 ( Inoue & Miller 1965). — Mastigobryum bernieri Steph. , Bulletin de l’Herbier Boissier, série 2, 8 (11): 852 ( Stephani 1908c). — Type: New Caledonia, Bernier (lecto-, designated here fide Kitagawa (1970, in sched.), G[G00066866]!).

Mastigobryum bernieri f. falcifolium Steph. , Bulletin de l’Herbier Boissier, série 2, 8 (11): 852 ( Stephani 1908c). — Mastigobryum falcifolium Steph. ex Paris, Revue bryologique 33: 29 ( Paris 1906). — Type: New Caledonia, Etesse 6 (lecto-, designated here; G[Mt Malaoui pr. Nouméa, G00264036]!; iso-, REN[REN000098]!).

Bazzania serrifolia Steph., Revue bryologique 35 (2): 34 ( Stephani 1908a). — Mastigobryum serrifolium (Steph.) Steph. , Bulletin de l’Herbier Boissier, série 2, 8 (11): 860 ( Stephani 1908c). — Type: New Caledonia, Le Rat, Etesse (lecto-, designated here fide Kitagawa (1970, in sched.), G[Mt Dzumac, XII.1904, Le Rat, G00066887]!; isolecto-, REN[REN00022]!; para-, G[Mt Koghis, V-VI.1905, Etesse s.n., G00282526]! G[IX.1906, Le Rat s.n. G00282527]! G[Mt Dzumac, VII.1905, Le Rat s.n. G00282530]!).

Mastigobryum angustum Steph. , Species hepaticarum 6: 453 ( Stephani 1924). — Bazzania angusta (Steph.) Herzog, Transactions of the BritishBryological Society 1 (4): 307 ( Herzog 1950). — Type: New Caledonia, Le Rat (lecto-, designated here fide Kitagawa (1970, in sched.), G[In jugo Dogny (1050 m), L. Le Rat, G00066885]!; isolecto-, PC[In jugo Dogny (1050 m), VII.1909, L. Le Rat, PC0101781, PC0101782, PC0150631]! REN[s.n.]!) syn. nov.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — New Caledonia • North Province, Poya, Aoupinié ; on dead wood in wet forest; 700 m; 16.XII.2015; Métoyer MET099 • Touho, Tipiléi upper valley; on litter, in sedimentary massif, lowland wet forest; 315 m; 12.X.2012; Thouvenot NC 1221 • Poindimié, Tango plateau, Napupwa ; on trunk base in wet forest, in volcano-sedimentary massif; 467 m; 20.IX.2019; Thouvenot NC 3297 • South Province, Mt Koghis ; II.1905; Etesse s.n.; PC [ PC0101882 ] • Mé Areimbo ; 1088 m; X.1909; L. Le Rat s.n.; REN [ REN000227 ] • La Foa, Dogny plateau; on ground and rocks in a creek, volcano-sedimentary bedrock, in wet forest; 1000 m; s.d.; Coulerie COU66 (as Bazzania angusta (Steph.) Herzog ) • ibid.; 950 m; 24.X.2019; Thouvenot NC 2619 • Yaté, Marais Kiki , soil on rocks in damp forest; 8.VIII.2014; Métoyer MET031; VI.2015; Métoyer MET067 • Dumbéa, Koghis ; on dead wood in wet forest; 8.VIII.2014; Métoyer MET028 • Mont Dore, Mouirange Pass ; on dead wood in wet forest; 284 m; VI.2015; Métoyer MET063 • Païta, Mt Humboldt ; on litter in cloud forest; 1255 m; 1.X.2018; Thouvenot NC 1809 • ibid.; on dead wood in mountain shrubland; 1280-1300 m; 11.IX.2014; Métoyer MET036, MET038, MET041 .

DISTRIBUTION IN NEW CALEDONIA. — Widely distributed in both provinces of the main island (Grande Terre), from the lowest altitudes to the highest mountains, mainly on ground and dead wood.

TOTAL RANGE. — Endemic to New Caledonia.

DESCRIPTION

Plants

Medium to large, rigid, decumbent, growing in dense wefts or creeping among bryophytes and filmy ferns; moist shoots 2-3 mm wide, stems about 0.30-0.50 mm wide; branching common, terminal branching pseudo-dichotomous, ventral-intercalary branches flagelliform.

Leaves

Imbricate, spreading usually at right angle when moist, convex, deflexed when dry; leaves 1.5-2.0 mm long, 1.0- 1.5 mm wide near the bases, short-elliptical or widely ovate, asymmetrical to sub-symmetrical, not falcate, length-width ratio 1.2-1.5; both margins sub-entire, crenulate to sharply denticulate at least in upper part, dorsal margins strongly arched, subauriculate at base, sometimes obliquely sub-straight in upper half; ventral margins ranging from convex to sub-straight or sinuous; apices usually rounded or shortly truncate to angular, shallowly (2-)3(-4) dentate, teeth often reduced to a single cell, at most low and very widely triangular separated by shallowly lunate sinuses; rarely, apices more deeply dissected in some leaves.

Cells

Leaf areolation more or less heterogeneous, with an obvious intramarginal area of thick-walled cells and a large internal subvitta of larger cells; median cells rounded-quadrate to oblong, 8-25 µm wide, 15-30 µm long, moderately thick-walled with inconspicuous to medium trigones; marginal and intramarginal cells smaller, thick-walled; basal cells oblong to rectangular, up to 45 µm wide and 55 µm long, thin-walled with larger bulging trigones.

Underleaves

Patent to spreading, recurved, transversally to obliquely inserted, positioned near and connate to the leaf bases on both sides of the stem, reniform to slightly wider than long, 0.60-1.20 mm long, 0.80-1.50 mm wide, usually up to 2-3 times wider than the stem, lateral margins repand to rounded lobulate, apices variously shaped, usually entire margined to eroded, at times shortly incised, then with large lobes rounded to ovate; hyaline borders narrow, from null to unevenly continuous, made of 0 to 4(-5) files of small hyaline cells, internal cells like the leaves (Description after the type specimens of M. bernieri and M. serrifolium ).

NOTES

Bazzania bernieri is a very distinctive species in New Caledonia, although Stephani described several taxa based on characters varying in a few details. But, after checking a lot of specimens showing a mix of these characters, they turned out to be synonyms. Typical B. bernieri is a medium to strong species usually fragrant, distinguished by: 1) convex leaves imbricate and widely spreading when moist, mostly at (60°-)90° to the stems; 2) leaves more or less symmetrically broadly elliptical to ovate with denticulate margins and shallowly dentate apices; 3) intramarginal cells small and thick-walled, forming a more or less wide strip surrounding a wide subvitta; 4) cells in the subvitta larger with large rounded trigones, cell lumina usually filled with large oil bodies, oblong or rounded; and 5) reniform underleaves up to 3 times the stem width, recurved, with a narrow hyaline border, the apices usually entire to eroded. It could only be confused with B. loricata (Reinw., Blume & Nees) Trevis. but leaves of the latter have more widely expanded dorsal bases and are entirely filled with thin-walled cells with large trigones.

The synonyms are hardly separated since the above-mentioned features are constant in their types. Variations may occur in the width of the underleaf hyaline border, that remains relatively narrow because the hyaline cells are small and often partly collapse. Furthermore, the subvitta may be hardly distinct from the surrounding cells but leaves with such areolation may occur mixed with typical leaves in the same shoots.In addition, I could see rare plants with quadrate underleaves, or with underleaves shallowly incised mixed with entire ones. In addition, Métoyer et al (2018) underline the chemical proximity between B. serrifolia and B. bernieri and the lack of chemospecific status for B. serrifolia . So, the chemical analysis supports that synonymy. In the type of Mastigobryum angustum, Kitagawa (1973) pointed out the erect spreading leaves instead of widely spreading, the smaller trigones of the leaf cells and the underleaf hyaline margins wider and incised. But comparison of different isotypes shows that the leaves can be oriented at c. 60° to 90° from the stem in the same specimen and the other quantitative characters are included within the limits described above.

The name Bazzania serrifolia was used by Stephani when he first published the new species in the Revue bryologique ( Stephani 1908a). In the same paper, Stephani used the generic name Mastigobryum for four new species, especially M. subintegrum Steph. , but, inexplicably in our view, he used Bazzania just for B. serrifolia . However, Stephani’s name has priority and the later combination Bazzania serrifolia (Steph.) Tixier (1973) is illegitimate. At PC, the specimenPC0101882, collected by Etesse, is regarded as a type of Mastigobryum serrifolium , but the collection date (February 1905) differs from that of the syntype at G (May-June 1905) and I cannot state that it is a part of the original material seen by Stephani.

Figures

FIG. 2. — Leaves and underleaves drawn at the same scale from type specimens of New Caledonian Bazzania Gray species:A, Mastigobryum serrifolium (Steph.) Steph.(syntype G00282526); A1, underleaf; A2, leaf; B, M. bernieri f. falcifolium Steph. (lectotype G00282530); B1, leaf;B2, underleaf;C, M. subintegrum Steph. (isotype G00112148); C1-C3 underleaves; C4-C6 leaves; D, M. pectinatum Lindenb. & Gottsche (isotype G00282552); D1, D5, leaves; D2-D4 underleaves; E, Herpetium australe Mont. (lectotype PC0769355); E1, underleaf; E2, leaf; F, Jungermannia tridens Reinw., Blume & Nees (isotype G00064266); F1, underleaf; F2, F3, leaves. Scale bar: 200 µm.

FIG. 5. — Bazzania bernieri (Steph.) Inoue & H.A.Mill.: A, C, E, G, H, underleaves; B, F, I-K, leaves; D, underleaf margin; L, marginal leaf cells; M, basal leaf cells; N, median leaf cells. A, B, from the isotype of Mastigobryum angustum Steph. [REN000226]; C, F, H, J, from Thouvenot NC1690; D, G, from Thouvenot NC2619; E, I, from the isotype of M. angustum [PC0101781]; K, L-N, from Thouvenot NC1666. Scale bars: A-C, F, 200 µm; D, 50 µm; E, G-K, 200 µm; L-N, 20 µm.