![Thumbnail: [Volume 83, 1955-56 page 589]](/journals/rsnz/images/rsnz_83/thumbnails/rsnz_83_04_0723_0589_ac_02.gif)
Introduction
Lepidozia is an important genus of the primitive family Lepidoziaceae. It is a large genus, more plentiful in the Southern than in the Northern Hemisphere, and with many tropical species. It differs from Bazzama, in that the leaves have more and deeper divisions, and in the stipules being, in most cases, similar in shape to the leaves and smaller.
In the Synopsis Hepaticarum (1845), Gottsche. Lindenberg and Nees divided up the genus under the headings of Microphyllie, Incisae, Communes, and Capillares. It is anomalous that with 30 or more years of priority, these names to all intents and purposes have been dropped, because Spruce (1876), in addition to ignoring them, replaced them with his own 3 sections Eu-Lepidozia, Ptilolepidozia and Microlepidozia, and placed these on a permanently higher level by calling them Subgenera. Later, Spruce included his Ptilolepidozia in Eu-Lepidozia. Stephani (1909), who had a wider general knowledge of the genus than Spruce, divided the genus into Symmetricae and Asymmetricae. This is probably the best of the three systems, as the grouping is the simplest and the most natural. But here is another anomaly. Stephani's names, for better or for worse, technically have no standing, either as subgenera, because they contain the types of Spruce's subgenera, or as sections, because they contain the types and lectotypes of the Synopsis Sections, whatever these may be. It thus appears that the Rules of Nomenclature can be a hindrance to progressive improvements in taxonomy.
As regards Spruce's Subgenera, his Eu-Lepidozia automatically becomes Lepidozia Subg. Lepidozia, as it contains the type of the genus, L. reptans His Subgenus Microlepidozia with its Section Telaranea is a vexed question. As constituted by Spruce, it was characterised by small plants with transverse leaves and unistratose perianths. But actually, unistratose perianths are shared by his Eu-Lepidozia as in L. Martini and L. tetradactyla. Evans' discovery that in the branching, the divided leaf is ventral as well as dorsal, does not hold either as an exclusive character, as may be seen in Lindenberg's plate of L. laevifolia (1846) with incubous leaves, which shows three divided leaves which are ventral.
Spruce's Section Telaranea of his Subgenus Microlepidozia with its subtransverse leaves and thin-walled perianth will fit in neither subgenus, which
![Thumbnail: [Volume 83, 1955-56 page 590]](/journals/rsnz/images/rsnz_83/thumbnails/rsnz_83_04_0724_0590_ac_02.gif)
perhaps is why Spruce, apparently as an afterthought, suggested that it may be a new Genus. It was made a Section of Lepidozia in 1888, a separate Genus in 1895, a Subgenus in 1914, where I have left it.
I am greatly indebted to Dr. J. Proskauer of The University of California, Berkeley, for interpreting for me the Rules of Nomenclature as they apply to the three separate systems of subdivision within the Genus, also for the correct citations for the Genus and the Subgenera, and the correct date for that part of the Synopsis in question.
Although L. microphylla, L. pendulina, and L. ulothrix are included in the original eight species referred to Lepidozia by Dumortier in his Recueil d'observations sur les Jungermanniacees, Dr. Proskauer is of the opinion that as far as Dumortier is concerned, these names are nomina nuda.
Genus Lepidozia (Dumortier) Dumortier, Recueil d'observations sur les Jungermanniacees p. 19, 1835.
Pleuroschisma section Lepidozia Dum. Syll. Jung. Eur. 69, 1831.
Mastigophora Nees Naturg. Eur. Leberm., 1, 95. 1833.
Herpetium section Lepidozia Nees, Naturg. Eur. Leberm., 3, 31, 1838.
Plants minute to large, pale, yellowish green, olive or brown, forming mats or creeping loosely on earth or rotting wood, in rare cases erect, or pendulous on bark. Stems pinnately to bi-pinnately branched. branches mostly lateral, sometimes with flagellate tips; postical, flagelliferous, small-leaved branches sometimes present. Leaves alternate, transverse to incubous, mostly decurved, mostly quadrifid or 5–6-fid, with sinuses extending to the middle more or less, more rarely 2-3-partite, with divisions extending to or nearly to the base; segments lanceolate to subulate, obtuse or acute, mostly entire. Cells variable in size, rounded-quadrate or oblong-quadrate, or porose with thick walls. Involucral leaves usually with a deeper base than the cauline leaves, variously toothed to ciliate. Perianth terminating a short ventral branch, cylindric or fusiform, 1 or more cells thick, often plicate or angled towards the tip, usually contracted at the mouth, mouth entire, toothed, or more or less fimbriate. ♂ inflorescence on a short ventral branch.
The Lectotype of Lepidozia is L. reptans (L) Dum., Spruce Journ. of Bot., xiv, 164, 1876.
| Key to Subgenera | ||
| 1. Leaves bipaitite, divided to the base, or 2 to 3-partite, divided nearly to the base | Subg. Telaranea | |
| Leaves 3 or more fid or partite. not divided to the base | 2 | |
| 2 Plants small, leaves transverse | Subg. Microlepidozia | |
| Plants small to large, leaves subtransvense to incubous | Subg. Lepidozia |
| Key to Species | ||
| 1. Plants small to large. leaves subtransverse to incubous (Subg. Lepidozia) | 2 | |
| Plants small, leaves transverse (Subg. Microlepidozia) | 30 | |
| 2. Leaves asymmetric, cells porose except in L. glaucophylla (Asymmetricae) | 3 | |
| Leaves symmetric, cells not porose (Symmetricae in part) | 12 | |
| 3 Leaves dentate on dentate-laciniate (Incisae) | 4 | |
| Leaves not dentate (Communes in part) | 5 | |
| 4. Dorsal base and segments shortly toothed, stipules with 4 segments and 2 small lateral segments | 1 Kuki [ unclear: ] |
![Thumbnail: [Volume 83, 1955-56 page 591]](/journals/rsnz/images/rsnz_83/thumbnails/rsnz_83_04_0725_0591_ac_02.gif)
| Branches attenuate and capillary, segments and armature setaceous, often bifid, stipules bifid, variously armed | 2 ulothrix | |
| 5. Plants glaucous, leaves both large and small | 3 glaucophylla | |
| Plants not glaucous, leaves uniform | 6 | |
| 6. Dorsal base semiorbicular, leaf-segments setaceous, glossy | 4 setigera | |
| Dorsal base arched but not semiorbicular, leaf-segments shortly or longly triangular | 7 | |
| 7. Leaves less than 0.5 mm | 8 | |
| Leaves more than 0.5 mm | 10 | |
| 8 Stems woody, much branched, bianches pendulous, curved, attenuated | 9 | |
| Stems prostrate, simply pinnate | 5 laenifolia | |
| 9. Leaves subsymmetric, very remote, 0.25-0.3 mm. divided to more than ⅓ (Microphyllae) | 6 microphylla | |
| Leaves imbricate, barely 0.5 mm, divided to | 7 procera | |
| 10. Plants habitually dark brown, leaves crowded, 2 dorsal segments short, cell walls very thick, stems usually erect, dense | 8 obtusiloba | |
| Plants mostly pale or light brown, stems not erect and densely compacted | 11 | |
| 11. Plants glossy, leaves concave, cells 30-40μ | 9 concinna | |
| Plants more robust, branches pendulous, flagelliform, stem leaves remote on well developed plants, cells 20-30μ | 10 pendulina | |
| 12. Leaves 3 or more fid or partite, but not divided right to the base | 13 | |
| Leaves 2-partite to the base, or 2 and 3-partite very near to the base (Subg. Telaranea) | 33 | |
| 13. Leaves 3-fid 01 3-partite | 14 | |
| Leaves more than 3-fid | 17 | |
| 14. Plants very small, 3rd segment of leaf often not properly developed, stipules rudimentary, ± crenate, cells all separate | 11 integristipula | |
| Plants longer, stipules normally divided, cells not separate | 15 | |
| 15. Plants silky, leaves imbricate, cells of segments linear rectangular as in L. tetradactyla | 12 Martini | |
| Plants not silky, leaves remote, cells of segments not linear-rectangular | 16 | |
| 16. Stems filiform, leaves very remote, bifid on branches, segments straight, diverging sometimes 4-fid in L. dispar | 13 dispar | |
| Stems not filiform, contex with large hyaline cells, leafsegments often incurved | 14 remotifolia | |
| 17. Leaves 4–6-fid | 18 | |
| Leaves 8-fid (Capillares in part) | 20 | |
| 18. Plants plumose, segments setaceous from near the leafbase, cells of discus typically in 2 lows (Capillares in part) | 15 telradactyla | |
| Plants not plumose, segments, if setaceous, from a discus of more than 2 cells high (except var. subplumulosa of L. tetradactyla) (Communes in part) | 19 | |
| 19. Discus rectangular, sides parallel or nearly so, segments parallel in L. Roseana, segments based on 2 cells | 20 | |
| Discus ± narrowed to the base, segments diverging, not always based on 2 cells | 22 | |
| 20. Plants glaucous or whitish, leaves contiguous or scarcely so, lowest row of discus cells twice as long as other cells | 16 centipes | |
| Plants not glaucous, often glistening | 21 | |
| 21. Leaf-segments shortish, parallel, ending in 2–3 uniseriate cells | 17 Roseana |
![Thumbnail: [Volume 83, 1955-56 page 592]](/journals/rsnz/images/rsnz_83/thumbnails/rsnz_83_04_0726_0592_ac_02.gif)
| Leaf-segments as long as the discus, setaceous, ending in 4–5 umiseriate cells | 18 corticola | |
| 22. Plants small, leaves 0.5 mm 01 less | 23 | |
| Plants medium to robust, leaves more than 0.5 mm | 24 | |
| 23. Plants paludicolous, florifeious, leaves distorted when dry | 19 leplodiclyon | |
| Leaves not distoited when dry. segments regular, triangular 01 lanceolate, middle ones based on 3 cells | 20 patentissima | |
| 24. Segments of leaves not, or scarcely longei than the discus | 25 | |
| Segments mostly longei, to much longer than the discus | 26 | |
| 25. Leaf-segments based on 2 and 4 cells, the more widely based ones usually abruptly narrowed, leaves brownish, glossy, usually imbricate | 21 Gottscheana | |
| Leaf-segments lanceolate from a base of 3-7 cells, not abruptly narrowed, leaves pale to whitish, remote, not glossy | 22 meridiana | |
| 26. Plants robust, stems woody, much branched, branches flexuous, leaves apparently alway 4-partite, segments spinose, longly tapering from an 8-celled base, cells 20-30μ | 23 spinosissima | |
| Stems and branches not woody nor flexuous, stem leaves occasionally 5-6 partite, cells more than 30μ | 27 | |
| 27. Plants pale to whitish, cells uniform, several rows of twin cells in the subula of the segments, moistiueloving | meridiana var. paludicola | |
| Plants brownish, cells of subula longer to much longer than broad | 28 | |
| 28. Stems densely bipinnate, branches and branchlets decreasing in size upwards, cells of subulas to 90μ long | 24 Gibbsiann | |
| Parts of plants not so mordinately dense, cells of subulas not more than 60μ long | 25 piacnitens | |
| 29. Segments from a semi-circular base of 2 cells high, cells of segments twice as long as broad | 26 radiata | |
| Discus 5 cells high (dorsally), cells of leaf-segments 4 times longer than broad | 27 pulcherima | |
| 30. Plants usually pale green, rarely brownish, habitat usually dry | 31 | |
| Plants brown, usually from boggy ground | 32 | |
| 31. Leaves with a squairose discus, but segments parallel to stem, narrow-triangular, leaves normally subimbricate | 28 loppuirodes | |
| Leaves somewhat larger, middle leaf-segments triangular, lateral tooth on outer segments well-developed (in type) | 29 compacla | |
| 32. Stems catenulate, leaves incurved, segments ligulate with many rows of twin cells | 20 [ unclear: ] ison [ unclear: ] | |
| Leaves remote, squa [ unclear: ] ose, lateral segments with spur well-developed (in type) | 31 Calcarata | |
| 33 Leaves 2-partite, cleft to the base | 32 Herzog [ unclear: ] | |
| Leaves usually 3-partite, mostly 1 ½ cells length from the base occasional leaves on the stem 4 partite, branch leaves usually 2-partite | 33 lon [ unclear: ] pha |