Section Tayloriae of the genus Plagiochila is characterized. Plagiochila himalayana Schiffn. is redescribed and illustrated. Plagiochila propinqua Sande Lac. of sect. Contiguae Carl and P. oblonga Inoue of sect. Firmae are transferred to the section. Five species names are newly placed synonymy: Plagiochila decolyana Steph. (= P. nepalensis Lindenb.), P kudremuktii Steph. (= P himalayana Schiffn.), P kurseongensis Steph. (= P flexuosa Mitt.), P. parvidentata Inoue (= P. sisparensis Steph.), and P. subpropinqua Schiffn. (= P. himalayana Schiffn.). Plagiochila decolyana, P. ferruginea Steph. and P. liebmanniana Lehm & Lindenb. are excluded from this section. A key to the species of sect. Tayloriae Carl Asia is provided. For our Studies on Plagiochila (Grolle & So 1997, 1998), the species described from China as well as other Asian regions had to be considered. For this purpose, numerous types of Asian Plagiochila names have been examined. This paper presents the results concerning sect. Tayloriae Carl. For a key to sections of subgenus Plagiochila Southeast Asia see Inoue (1984). Plagiochila sect. Tayloriae Carl 'Taylori', Ann. Bryol. Suppl. 2: 140. 1931. Plagiochila sect. Belangerianae Carl, Ann. Bryol. Suppl. 2: 117. 1931. Plagiochila sect. Acanthophyllae Carl subsect. Belangerianae (Carl) Inoue, J. Hattori Bot. Lab. 20: 67. 1958. TYPE: Plagiochila taylorii Steph. (= Plagiochila stephensoniana Mitt.) Section 'Taylori', as circumscribed by Carl (1931), is heterogeneous and consists of several New Zealand and Australian species. The section was typified by P. taylorii Steph. 1904 which was later found to be conspecific with P. stephansoniana Mitt. 1855 (Inoue & Schuster 1971). The latter species was originally assigned to sect. Giganteae by Carl (1931), and included the same section were also a number of New Zealand species that were subsequently placed various other sections by Inoue and Schuster (1971). Section Belangerianae was created by Carl (1931) to include P. belangeriana Lindenb. 1840 (= P. arbuscula (Lehm. & Lindenb.) Lindenb. 1839; synonymized by Inoue & Schuster 1971), P. propinqua Sande Lac. 1856, and P. badia Steph. 1896 (= P. arbuscula; synonymized by Inoue 1981). Inoue (1965) included the following East Asian species sect. Belangerianae: P. arbuscula, P. decolyana Steph., P. ferruginea Steph., P. flexuosa Mitt., P. liebmanniana Lehm. & Lindenb., P. sisparensis Steph., and P. spathulifolia Mitt. Finally, sect. Belangerianae was synonymized with section Tayloriae by Inoue (1984). Section Tayloriae is characterized by plants deep grayish green to brown, simple to highly branched; branching predominantly terminal, Frullania-type; leaves ovate or oblong-ovate, remote to moderately imbricate; teeth spinose, mostly on ventral margin or restricted to near apex; leaf cells with mediumsized to large, nodulose trigones, walls thin or moderately thickened throughout, cuticle smooth; asexual reproduction usually lacking, if present, by propagules from ventral surface of leaves; and perianth campanulate, obovoid to cylindric, hardly emergent from bracts, usually without innovations. The section is represented by seven species East/ Southeast Asia (present report) and four species the New Zealand and Eastern Australian regions (Inoue 1984). KEY TO THE SPECIES OF SECT. TAYLORIAE IN ASIA 1. Marginal teeth of leaf mostly restricted to near apex; shoots usually simple (especially so when sterile); perianth campanulate to obovoid. East Asia 2 1. Marginal teeth of leaf present from apex to ventral margin; distal parts of shoots usually with terminal branches even when sterile; perianth obovoid to long cylindric. Southeast Asia and Melanesia 5 2. Plants medium-sized, 2.8-3.8 mm wide; leaves 1.5-3.0x as long as wide; leaf cells with medium-sized to large trigones 3 2. Plants large, 4.5-5.6 mm wide; leaves 1.9-2.4x as long as wide; leaf cells with large trigones. Widespread East Asia ---------1. P. flexuosa 3. Leaves remote, 1.5-1.8 mm long, 0.8-1.2 mm wide, 1.5-1.8x as long as wide, widest around middle to apex, marginal teeth 9-16 per leaf, 10007-2745/99/287-293$0.85/0 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.132 on Thu, 15 Sep 2016 04:44:15 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 288 THE BRYOLOGIST [VOL. 102 2(4) cells long. Sri Lanka and South India 2. P. sisparensis 3. Leaves remote to contiguous, 2.4-2.6 mm long, 1.3-1.8 mm wide, 2.6-3.0x as long as wide, widest around middle, marginal teeth 5-22 per leaf, 3-6 cells long 44 4. Marginal teeth 10-18(22) per leaf; leaf cells with medium-sized trigones. Sikkim, Bhutan, Bengal, and China (Yunnan) 3. P. himalayana 4. Marginal teeth 5-7 per leaf; leaf cells with large, nodulose trigones. East Asia 4. P. oblonga 5. Leaf cells near margin and apex with thin or slightly thickened walls, without trigones, median leaf cells with acute trigones, basal ones with larger, acute to nodulose trigones; ventral leaf base distinctly or moderately ampliate at base; plants large, highly branched, flabellate, shoots (4)6-12 cm long, 4.2-4.7 mm wide on main shoot. Widespread Southeast Asia & Melanesia 5. P. arbuscula 5. Leaf cells with moderately thickened walls, with nodulose trigones throughout; ventral leaf base not ampliate; plants small to medium-sized, moderately branched, hardly flabellate, 1-3(7) cm long 66 6. Leaves oblong, spathulate, usually 1.3-1.4 mm long, 0.4-0.6 mm wide, widest above middle to near apex. Indonesia and Thailand 6. P. spathulifolia 6. Leaves oblong or oblong-ovate, 1.6-2.2 mm long, 0.5-0.8 mm wide, widest around middle or slightly below. Southeast Asia & Melanesia 7. P. propinqua 1. PLAGIOCHILA FLEXUOSA Mitt., J. Proc. Linn. Soc. Bot. 5: 94. '1861' 1860. TYPE: INDIA. SIKKIM. 8,000 ft., Hooker 1367 (holotype, NY!; isotypes, BM!, G-001189!). P. titibuensis S. Hatt., Nakai (ed.), Icon. P1. Asiae Orient. 4: 410. 1942; synonymized by Inoue 1960. TYPE: JAPAN. in Hondo, Prov. Musasi: Nisitama-gun, Mt. Mitake, ca 800 m, Hattori (holotype, TNS!). P. kurseongensis Steph., Spec. Hep. 6: 173. 1918; syn. nov. TYPE: INDIA. SIKKIM. Himalaya, Mahaldaram forest, 6,800', 1899, Decoly & Schaul (holotype, G-