Bazzania deplanchei (Gottsche ex Steph.) Jovet-Ast

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 : 132-134

Bazzania deplanchei (Gottsche ex Steph.) Jovet-Ast

( Figs 7F, G, I )

Revue bryologique et lichénologique 18: 83 ( Jovet-Ast 1949). — Mastigobryum deplanchei Gottsche ex Steph. , Bulletin de l’Herbier Boissier, série 2, 8: 955 ( Stephani 1908c). — Type: New Caledonia, Deplanche s.n., Pancher s.n. (lecto- ,, designated here, G[“sommet du Mont Mi”, 25.III…, Pancher s.n. G00282413]! isolecto-, G[G00282414]!; paralecto-, G[Balade, 1861 (“1869”), Deplanche 7, G00282415, G00282416]!; PC[PC0101771, PC0101772, PC0101773, PC0101774]!).

Bazzania deplanchei var. filamentosa Tixier, Cryptogamie, Bryologie, Lichénologie 6: 179, f.1 ( Tixier 1985). — Type: New Caledonia, Mont Oungoué; 17.VI.1979; MacKee 39923.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — New Caledonia • South Province, Yaté, Wé Toa; on bark in wet forest in ultramafic massif; 500 m; 8.IX.2019; Thouvenot NC3311 • Pic du Grand Kaori; on dead wood fragments in the litter, wet forest in ultramafic massif; 470 m; 4.X.2016, Thouvenot NC3434 • Dumbéa, Montagne des Sources, on dead wood in wet forest with Araucaria rulei F.Muell. , ultramafic massif; 950 m; 21.IX.2016; Thouvenot NC2076 • Païta, Mt Humboldt; on litter in mountain bush with Araucaria humboldtensis J.Buchholz , ultramafic massif; 1400 m; 1.X.2008; Thouvenot NC1725.

DISTRIBUTION IN NEW CALEDONIA. — One of the most frequent and obvious Bazzania on bark, dead wood, litter, rarely rocks, in the forests of both provinces of Grande Terre at any elevation.

TOTAL RANGE. — Endemic to New Caledonia.

DESCRIPTION

Plants

Large, rigid, in thick wefts; moist shoots up to 6 mm wide when flattened, tube-like when dry, stems 0.50 mm wide; terminal branching common, distant, with long pseudo-dichotomous branches, ventral-intercalary branches flagelliform.

Leaves

Imbricate, deflexed when moist or dry, spreading when moist and flattened, 1.80-3.75 mm long, 0.85-1.65 mm wide near bases, 0.55-0.75 mm below apices, asymmetrically ovate-lingulate, slightly falcate or not, length-width ratio 2.0-2.6; cuticle smooth, margins entire, dorsal margins arched in lower half or more, obliquely straight in upper part, ventral margins slightly concave or sub-straight; apices truncate, deeply 3-lobed, with lobes narrowly triangular, long acuminate in linear points up to 8 cells long, point often broken, sinus narrowly lunate.

Cells

Areolation homogenous, cells oblong to elongate, with strongly thickened walls interrupted by a single pit on each side and forming huge trigones at cell angles; median cells 20-30 µm wide, 25-45 µm long; marginal cells smaller, often oblate; basal cells 30-40 µm wide, 55-110 µm long.

Underleaves

Spreading, large, transversally inserted, positioned close to the leaf bases on both sides, free or very narrowly connate, 1.75-2.50 mm long, 1.50-2.20 mm wide, deeply dissected, up to half the whole underleaf length, the basal lamina sub-quadrate to transversally elongate, trapezoid, 2.5 times wider than the stem, lateral margins straight or slightly divergent, sometimes with some bumps; apices typically with four long narrow lobes, from oblong to triangular bases extending into long linear acumina, lateral lobes usually divergent so that underleaves are trapezoid in outline; cells like in the leaves but narrower, 25-30 µm wide, 60-75 µm long. Gynoecia not seen. Androecia in very short ovoid spikes, inserted at underleaf axis, 0.5-0.7 mm as wide as long, with 3-4 inflated bracts, sharply dentate at apices (Description after type and non-type specimens).

NOTES

Bazzania deplanchei is easily distinguished from all other New Caledonian species by the large underleaves deeply incised to half-length into four narrow lobes, the lobes long acuminate, tapering in linear apices when unbroken, the lateral ones usually divergent. The leaf apices are also deeply 3-lobed, a character shared with B. parisii , that is clearly distinct by its smaller size and underleaves that are shallowly indented. The leaf cells of

B. deplanchei are very distinctive. They are reminiscent of the cells in some Heteroscyphus species, i.e., H. assurgentissimu s J.J.Engel, Thouvenot & Frank Müll. ( Engel et al. 2021) or H. diestianus (Sande-Lac.) Piippo (1985) ( Thouvenot 2023).

When he defined the variety filamentosa, Tixier (1985) underlined as single distinctive feature the filiform apices of leaf and underleaf lobes, that is a character widely shared by most of the typical B. deplanchei specimens, so that the length of filiform parts is a variable feature.

The date 1869 written on the label of the paratypes at G Deplanche 7 [G00282415, G00282416] is unlikely the collection date since Émile Deplanche left New Caledonia in 1867. The date 1861 on the isosyntype labels at PC is the more probable one because Balade is situated in the northern part of the island explored by É. Deplanche from 1860 to 1867 ( Vieillard 1876).

Figures

FIG. 7. — A-E, Bazzania caudistipula (Steph.) Inoue & H.A.Mill.: A, basal leaf cells;B, E, underleaves;C, median leaf cells;D, leaf;F, G, I, B. deplanchei (Gottsche ex Steph.) Jovet-Ast:F, underleaf; G, leaf; I, median leaf cells;H, J-L, B. kokawana N.Kitag & T.Kodama: H, underleaf; J, median cells of a broken leaf with daughter cells; K-L, leaves; A, C, E, from Müller NC216; B, D, from Thouvenot NC3160; F, G, I, from Thouvenot NC3430; H, J-L from Hürlimann 2741a; PC[PC0793200]. Scale bars: A, C, I, 20 µm; B, D-G, 200 µm; H, K, L, 100 µm; J, 20 µm.