Identification notes

This species has been introduced in the past with horticultural specimens from New Zealand and is currently restricted to a few sites where it grows as patches over rotting logs, and shaded damp sandy/peaty soil. It is the same species that is described in Paton as Telaranea longii and Telaranea murphyae.

It tends to grow in patches, rather like Lepidozia reptans, but is a more delicate plant with longer and finer leaf lobes. It is superficially similar to related plants such as Kurzia sp, but tends to have longer uniseriate leaf lobes and horizontal leaves. A stem section will demonstrate the presence of a hyalodermis and unlike Kurzia, oil bodies are present. The branching is pinnate, unlike Blepharostoma.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland

First found in the gardens at RHS Wisley, it is also known from gardens in the Scillies, Bournemouth and Argyll.