Austral Hepaticae. 26. The Identity, Taxonomic Position, and Ecology of Trichocolea julacea Hatcher (Trichocoleaceae)

Abstract

A new species, Leiomitra julacea, is proposed for the New Zealand Trichocolea julacea, which is invalid according to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. The species is described and illustrated. The genus Trichocolea Dumortier is well represented in tropical montane areas and to a lesser extent the south temperate zone. Only a single species, T tomentella (Ehrhart) Dumortier, occurs in temperate areas in the Northern Hemisphere, where it is disjunctly widespread in range. Trichocolea tomentella is the type of the genus. Gottsche (1864: 132) subdivided Trichocolea into two sections, sect. Hirtiflora Gottsche (= sect. Trichocolea) and sect. Laeviflora Gottsche. He characterized section Hirtiflora as having a hairy involucrum, i.e., the calyptra, which is fused with and surrounded by bracts and bracteoles. Three species were assigned to this section: T tomentella, T mollissima (Hooker f. & Taylor) Gottsche, and T. lanata (Hooker) Nees. The other section, Laeviflora, was defined as having a smooth calyptra, devoid of bracts, and contained one species, T tomentosa (Swartz) Gottsche, which is therefore the type of the section. Lindberg (1875) created a new genus, Leiomitra Lindberg, which included T tomentosa and a new species, L. capillata Lindberg. He distinguished the genus from Trichocolea in part by the lack of regularly pinnate branching, and on the characters cited by Gottsche for Trichocolea sect. Laeviflora. However, Gottsche's section was not cited as a synonym. Leiomitra has been variously treated by subsequent authors. Spruce (1884-1885) recognized Leiomitra as a genus and included four neotropical species: L. tomentosa (Swartz) Lindberg, L. flaccida Spruce, L. sphagnoides Spruce, and L. paraphyllina Spruce. Stephani (1888) and Bescherelle (1893) also accepted the genus. Schiffner (1893-1895) treated Trichocolea as a genus and recognized Gottsche's sections as subgenera; Leiomitra Lindberg was cited as a synonym of subgenus Laeviflora (Gottsche) Schiffner. Schiffner's description of subgenus Hirtiflora (Gottsche) Schiffner emphasized succubously oriented leaves, repeatedly pinnate branching, and the presence of a fleshy, wooly calyptra having both bracts and sterile archegonia inserted on it; the subgenus included six species. By contrast, subgenus Laeviflora had incubously oriented leaves, less regularly pinnate branching, and a calyptra that was both thin and smooth throughout, or at least in the upper portion. Schiffner included seven primarily neotropical species in subgenus Laevflora, including T tomentosa. Spruce (1895) was the first to treat Leiomitra as a subgenus, subg. Leiomitra (Lindberg) Spruce. Subgenus Laeviflora (Gottsche) Schiffner has less than a three-week priority over subgenus Leiomitra (Lindberg) Spruce (15 January vs. 5 February fide Stafleu & Cowan, 1985). Leiomitra was included as a synonym of Trichocolea, without subgeneric status by, e.g., Stephani (1898-1924), who regarded the two genera as the same on developmental grounds; Verdoorn (1932); Evans (1939); Miller (1951-1958); Hatcher (1957); Fulford (1963); Gradstein (1989); Fulford and Sharp (1990); Gradstein and Florschtitz-de Waard (1990); and Schuster (1966). Little (1949: 10) lectotypified Leiomitra Lindberg with L. tomentosa (while including the genus in the synonymy of Trichocolea). Leiomitra was recognized as a distinct genus by Schuster (1980, 1984) and by Grolle (1983). Schuster and Grolle placed both Trichocolea and Leiomitra in the Trichocoleaceae. Schuster (1963) added a third genus to the Trichocoleaceae, Eotrichocolea Schuster, based on Trichocolea polyacantha (Hooker f. & Taylor) Gottsche et al. of New Zealand. Schuster (1980) discussed interconnections of the Trichocoleaceae with a group of genera that includes Temnoma in the Pseudolepicoleaceae Fulford & J. Taylor, and merged the two families into one family, Trichocoleaceae, with four subfamilies: Trichocoleoideae, Temnomoideae Schuster, Blepharostomatoideae Grolle, and Chaetocoleoideae Schuster (Schuster, 1980, 1984). Hatcher (1958) described Trichocolea julacea Hatcher, based on a plant from Stewart Island, New Zealand. Known only from the protologue, this speNovoN 9: 25-28. 1999. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.83 on Sun, 09 Oct 2016 05:24:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms