typification

Lectotype: N.Z., Bay of Islands, J.D. Hooker 321, BM-Wilson! (Designated by Iwatsuki & Suzuki 1988, p. 218.)

Beever, J.E. 2014: Fissidentaceae. In: Heenan, P.B.; Breitwieser, I.; Wilton, A.D. (ed.) Flora of New Zealand — Mosses. Fascicle 8. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln.

Etymology

The epithet capitatus (“with a knob at the tip”) presumably refers to the setae, each of which bears a short, broad, curved theca.

Beever, J.E. 2014: Fissidentaceae. In: Heenan, P.B.; Breitwieser, I.; Wilton, A.D. (ed.) Flora of New Zealand — Mosses. Fascicle 8. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln.

editorial

"Hooker & Wilson (1844) described F. oblongifolius and F. capitatus as new species, both based on Bay of Islands types collected by J.D. Hooker. In the protologue F. oblongifolius is stated to differ from F. capitatus “in the linear obtuse leaves, of firmer texture, and more intense yellowish green colour; also in the position of the perigonia”. Subsequently, F. capitatus was reduced to a variety of F. oblongifolius (Hooker 1867), with the only distinguishing feature mentioned being leaf shape: “linear, ligulate, obtuse” in var. α [oblongifolius], vs “linear-lanceolate, acuminate” in var. β [capitatus]. Dixon (1923) and Sainsbury (1955a) both accepted F. capitatus as a variety of F. oblongifolius, but with reservations. For his part, Sainsbury (1955a, p. 53) commented, “I have seen very little of this species or of the variety, both having been seldom collected in New Zealand.” He cites two localities for the species, “Poor Knights Islands” and “Bay of Islands”. The former record is no doubt based on L.B. Moore 657, with duplicates in WELT-Sainsbury and CHR. That collection is a mixture of F. leptocladus, F. asplenioides and F. curvatus, and the present author found no F. capitatus in it. The only “Bay of Islands” specimen identified as F. oblongifolius in the Sainsbury Herbarium is a specimen (V.W. Lindauer s.n., WELT M007726) collected in Nov. 1940 “in cave beneath Rainbow Falls, Keri Keri”, but that specimen is F. strictus Hook.f. & Wilson. Dixon (1923, p. 106) considered the differences in the shape of the leaf apex, as described by Hooker, were “often not well marked” and that “intermediate forms occur”. However, all N.Z. material labelled “F. oblongifolius var. capitatus” in Herb. Dixon (excluding types) is incorrectly identified in my opinion: of the three specimens, two are F. pallidus and the third F. waiensis. A further specimen labelled by Dixon as “F. asplenioides” is F. oblongifolius s.s. Thus the concepts both G.O.K. Sainsbury and H.N. Dixon had of F. oblongifolius s.l. were compromised. Fissidens capitatus and F. hyophilus were reduced to synonymy of F. oblongifolius by BruggemanNannenga et al. (1994), and later treated as varieties of F. oblongifolius by Beever & Stone (1998). Further familiarisation with all three taxa, in the field and the herbarium, leads me to the conclusion that all three are distinct in ecology and morphology, with no intermediate forms observed among more than 100 specimens, and hence deserving of specific status. Numerous additional synonyms proposed for F. oblongifolius by Bruggeman-Nannenga et al. (1994) (but not recorded for N.Z.) have not been considered for this treatment."

Beever, J.E. 2014: Fissidentaceae. In: Heenan, P.B.; Breitwieser, I.; Wilton, A.D. (ed.) Flora of New Zealand — Mosses. Fascicle 8. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln.