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tasmanian liverworts - pseudolepicoleaceae
temnoma palmatum
1. terminal shoot (possibly branch)
[We had originally identified this as a Telaranea but had this corrected to Temnona subsequently (thanks EB!). The absence of inflated cortical cells should have provided the clue.]
This came in with a scraping off a shaded dry wall of a stream subject to turbulent flow in heavy rain. Growing in the vicinity were two mosses, Hypopterygium and Fissidens. There was a Chiloscyphus sp. mixed with the sample. Dominant vegetation in the vicinity was Eucalyptus delegatensis.
Stems were stiff and wiry, robust relative to size of leaves which were distant except at the tip. Branching was sparse, even on a 15mm section. However we did notice what appeared to be a freshly developing ventral intecalary branch. There were no flagellate branches amongst the several pieces examined. Leaves were attached transversely and were near squarrose.
Stems were around 0.1 mm wide with estimated 15 rows of cortical cells and 12 inner rows of medullary cells. The latter comprised of an inner core of 3 cells surrounded by an outer core of 9 cells (pix 8). Lateral leaves were mainly 3&4-fid (pix 2) and underleaves were 2&3-fid (pix 9). However we discovered a few leaves lower down on one stem that had 4-fid lateral leaves (pix 3) with a pair of teeth on the side of the disk. There were some rhizoids but they were not a prominent feature of the specimen.
Leaf lobes were distinctive in having ciliform lobes with pointed terminal cells (pix 4). Lobes were largely uniseriate and composed of 5 cells; they appeared to be 1-2x height of disk. Basal leaves had disks 7 cells high and 16 cells wide narrowing to 8-9 cells at attachment to stem. Underleaves had outer lobes curving in (pix 9) and the disks seemed to be only 1-2 cells high
Disk cells ranged from isodiametric to elongated x2, 20-30 µm across and had prominent papillae over the cuticle (pix 5). Lobe cells ranged up to 40 µm long with length being nearly 4x width. There were 4-6 round oil bodies per cell but details were obscure even at high magnification (pix 6).
Neither Checklist1 nor Engel & Glenny2 mention this species as occuring in Tasmania. While the genus is described as having cilia on leaf margins Engel & Glenny do state that lobes of sterile shoots are often eciliate. It does match utas3 description of habitat as 'logs, rock and soil in lowland to subalpine forest and also the walls of watercourses in alpine areas'.
 2. terminal leaf |
 3. basal leaf |
 4. leaf lobes |
 5. lobe papillae |
 6. leaf cells |
 7. stem |
 8. stem TS |
 9. underleaf |
References
- 1McCarthy, P.M., Checklist of Australian liverworts and hornworts, 2006
- 2Engel, J.J. & Glenny, D., A Flora of the Liverworts and
Hornworts of New Zealand, Vol 1,
p. 161; ISBN 978-1-930723-67-2
- 3University of Tasmania Key to Tasmanian Liverworts
Page URL: http://www.bluetier.org/Liverwort/temnoma-palmata.htm