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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 21(3)

Monoecious Nitella species (Characeae, Charophyta) from south-eastern mainland Australia, including Nitella paludigena sp. nov.

Michelle T. Casanova A C and Kenneth G. Karol B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, Birdwood Avenue, South Yarra, Vic. 3141, Australia, and 273 Casanova Road, Westmere, Vic. 3351, Australia.

B University of Washington, Seattle, United States of America, and New York Botanical Gardens, The Bronx, New York, United States of America.

C Corresponding author. Email: amcnova@netconnect.com.au

Australian Systematic Botany 21(3) 201-216 https://doi.org/10.1071/SB07026
Submitted: 4 June 2007  Accepted: 28 April 2008   Published: 20 August 2008

Abstract

Identification of Australian species of Nitella is problematic. Several species of monoecious Nitella have been described from south-eastern mainland Australia, but identification of these based on current treatments has been difficult. In response to the discovery of a new monoecious Nitella from the swamps of the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia, the monoecious species of Nitella from south-eastern mainland Australia were examined and compared. N. paludigena M.T.Casanova & K.G.Karol is distinguished from other monoecious species on the basis of its overall vegetative morphology and oospore morphology. N. paludigena is found in peaty tea-tree (Leptospermum sp) swamps on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia, and in the south-west of Victoria. A description of the morphology and ecology of the five monoecious Nitella species from south-eastern mainland Australia is given, along with a key.


Acknowledgements

Initial discovery of N. paludigena occurred during a project funded by the River Murray Catchment Water Management Board. Thanks go to Mardi van der Weilen and Dr Kerry Muller for seed-bank collections and facilitation of this project. Funds for this taxonomic study were provided through the Goolwa to Wellington Local Action Planning Group, facilitated by Jennie Dale. The field assistance of Tim Vale (from the Southern Mt Lofty Emu-wren Recovery Program), Jennie Dale and Mardi van der Weilen in Strathalbyn, and assistance from Robyn Barker and Bryan Womersley at the State Herbarium of South Australia, Simon Crawford at the Melbourne University EM Unit, and Catherine Gallagher and Pina Milne at the National Herbarium of Victoria is greatly appreciated. Thanks go to Drs Stephen Skinner and Peter Wilson for assistance with the Latin diagnosis.


References


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Appendix 1.  List of monoecious species from outside Australia examined for comparison with Nitella paludigena M.T. Casanova & K. G. Karol, sp. nov.
LM refers to light microscopy, SEM refers to images obtained with the scanning electron microscope
Click to zoom


Figs A1, A2.  Nitella asagrayana Schaffn. ex Nordst. in A. Braun & Nordst. = N. gracilis subsp. gloeostachys var. asagrayana f. asagrayana (Wood 1965, p640). Fig. A1. Whole oospore, showing fibrous wall and smooth flanges. Scale bar = 100 µm. Fig. A2. Detail of oospore wall and flange. Scale bar = 5 µm.
A1_A2


Figs A3, A4. Nitella leibergii T.F. Allen = N. gracilis subsp. gracilis var. leibergii (Wood 1965, p612). Fig. A3. Whole oospore, showing fibrous wall and smooth flanges. Scale bar = 100 µm. Fig. A4. Detail of oospore wall. Scale bar = 5 µm.
A3_A4


Figs A5, A6. Nitella morongii T.F. Allen = N. gracilis subsp. gloeostachys var. asagrayana f. morongii (Wood 1965, p641). Fig. A5. Whole oospore, showing fibrous fossa wall, with fibrous flanges on the striae. Scale bar = 100 µm. Fig. A6. Detail of oospore wall showing densely fibrous construction. Scale bar = 5 µm.
A5_A6


Figs A7, A8. Nitella maxceana T.F. Allen N. gracilis subsp. gloeostachys var. asagrayana f. morongii (Wood 1965, p641). Fig. A7. Whole oospore, showing fibrous wall and very large, smooth flanges. Scale bar = 100 µm. Fig. A8. Detail of oospore wall. Scale bar = 5 µm.
A7_A8


Figs A9, A10. Nitella pusilla Imahori = N. pseudoflabellata subsp. pseudoflabellata var. pusilla (Wood 1965, p591). Fig. A9. Whole oospore, showing smooth wall and low flanges. Scale bar = 100 µm. Fig. A10. Detail of finely fibrous (‘felted’) oospore wall. Scale bar = 20 µm.
A9_A10


Figs A11, A12. Nitella tenuissima (Desv.) Kütz., em R.D. Wood = N. tenuissima subsp. tenuissima var. tenuissima f. tenuissima (Wood 1965, p551). Fig. A11. Whole oospore, showing fibrous wall and large flanges. Scale bar = 100 µm. Fig. A12. Detail of oospore wall. Scale bar = 20 µm.
A11_A12


Figs A13, A14. Nitella wattii J. Groves = N. pseudoflabellata subsp. pseudoflabellata var. imperialis f. wattii (Wood 1965, p 588). Fig. A13. Whole oospore, showing smooth wall and low flanges. Scale bar = 100 µm. Fig. A14. Detail of oospore wall. Scale bar = 20 µm.
A13_A14