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Art. XLIV.—New Zealand Musci: Notes on the Genus Streptopogon, Wills, with Description of a New Species.
[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 4th August, 1897.]
Plate XLI. (in part).
This genus is a South American one, and is closely allied to the genus Tortula, the principal point of difference being the shape of the calyptra, which in Tortula is cucullate and in Streptopogon mitriform. So far there has only been one plant of this genus noted in New Zealand, and that was doubtfully identified by Sir Joseph Hooker from a small barren scrap as St. minioides, Schw., which is a South American species. Unfortunately, it has been described in the “Handbook of the Flora of New Zealand,” in a footnote, as European, which is incorrect.
The New Zealand species, which I have named St. hookerii, after Sir Joseph Hooker, is very abundant all over Banks Peninsula, on rocks and trees, but is rarely found in fruit there; but at Moa Creek, Milford Sound, West Coast, &c., it fruits freely, evidently requiring a great deal of moisture. In its barren condition it may readily be mistaken for an Orthotrichum, which it then closely resembles.
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It is unfortunate that no specimens of the South American plant are available for comparison with the New Zealand one, as I much prefer personal examination to being obliged to resort to written descriptions only.
I note that in the New Zealand plant the perichætial leaf sheathes the fruitstalk to the base of the capsule, which is often subimmersed. This is not given as a characteristic of St. minioides. Also, the former is monæcious, while the latter is described as diœcious.
St. minioides is described in the “Journal of the Linnæan Society (Botany),” vol. xii., 1896, p. 179.
The two plants are very similar, with the exception of those two points which I have noted; hence I am bound to assume that they cannot be identical.
Streptopogon hookerii, sp. nov. Plate XLI., fig. 2.
[The section below cannot be correctly rendered as it contains complex formatting. See the image of the page for a more accurate rendering.]
Plants perennial, monœcious, growing in small loose or dense tufts ¼ in. to 2 in. high, dark or yellow-green, sub-dichotomously branched. Leaves spreading from an erect sheathing base, flexuous, closely or loosely imbricating round the stem, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, concave. Margins entire, with a border of oblong pellucid cells continued to near the apex. Nerve excurrent, gemmaceous near the apex. Areola: Upper small, subrotund; lower rectangular; crisp when dry. Perichœtial oblong or linear-lanceolate, acuminate, sheathing the fruitstalk to the base of the capsule. Fruit terminal. Fruitstalk short. Capsule elliptic. Peristome twisted teeth, about six times longer than the tube. Operculum slender, conico-subulate, more than half the length of the capsule. Calyptra mitriform, lobed at the base. Male inflorescence terminal on separate branches, gemmaceous.
Hab. Damp rocks and trees; common; Banks Peninsula, Moa Creek, Milford Sound, Clinton, Lake Te Anau, &c. Collected by R. B.
Description of Plate XLI. (in part).
Fig. 2. Streptopogon hookerii.
| 1. |
Capsule. |
| 2. |
Operculum. |
| 3. |
Calyptra. |
| 4. |
Inner and outer perichætial leaves. |
| 5. |
First leaf outside perichætial. |
| 6. |
Stem leaves. |