Borovichev & Konstantinova. Sauteria Nees and Peltolepis Lindb. (Cleveaceae, Marchantiophyta) in the Russian Far East. In: The East Asian Flora: and its role in the formation of the world’s vegetation

Sauteria Nees and Peltolepis Lindb. (Cleveaceae, Marchantiophyta) in the Russian Far East

Eugene BOROVICHEV & Nadya KONSTANTINOVA
Polar- Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute, Kola Sci. Centre RAS, Apatity, Russia

The genera Sauteria Nees and Peltolepis Lindb. (Cleveaceae, Marchantiales) have been revised for the Far East of Russia. In total,45 specimens from KPABG, LE and VLA were studied. Previously two species of Sauteria were reported from the Far East of Russia: S. alpina (Nees) Nees and S. japonica (Shimizu & S. Hatt.) S. Hatt. S. japonica was recorded for Russia by V. Bakalin (Bakalin et al. 2009) from two localities in Sakhalin Province. Plants from these specimens have a spongy texture, 2-3 layers of air-chambers and a male receptacle on ventral but unreduced branches. A more or less spongy texture and male ventral branches are not rare in European specimens of S. alpina. So we suggest that these specimens should be referred to S. alpina and S. japonica should be excluded from the flora of Russia. S. alpina is an arcto-alpine circumpolar species. S. alpina is sporadically distributed in the Far East of Russia. It is known in the Chukotka Autonomous Area, Kamchatka Province, Sakhalin Province (Paramushir and Sakhalin Islands). In the Russian Far East two species of Peltolepis were known: P. quadrata (Saut.) Müll. Frib. and P. japonica (Shimizu & S. Hatt.) S. Hatt. Recently, Rubasinghe (2011) synonymized the latter with P. quadrata. Nevertheless based on morphology P. japonica is distinguished at the variety level as P. quadrata var. japonica Shimizu & S. Hatt. It differs from a type variety by a smaller size, not firm texture, shape and colour of ventral scales. On the other hand structure of carpocephalum, that were regarded as diagnostic features by Shimizu & Hattori (1954, 1955), are very variable and do not allow to distinguish these taxa. P. quadrata is an arcto-alpine circumpolar species. It is recorded in the Russian Far East from Chukotka Autonomous Area, Kamchatka Province (Easthern Kamchatka and Commander Island), Sakhalin Province (Sakhalin Island only). P. quadrata var. japonica is an eastern-asiatic species restricted to Russia, Japan and China. It is known in Russia from two localities in Primorskii Territory only. The work was partly supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, grant no. 10-04-00050.