Pohlia annotina (Hedw.) Lindb.

Plants more lustrous than N.Z. P. camptotrachela; stems, leaves, and laminal cells as in that species. Gemmae numerous in upper axils, to c. 10–12 per leaf, variable in shape, mostly clavate-vermicular but some obovoid, to 300 µm or greater in length, the primordia incurved, peg-like, 1 or 2 cells wide at base.

Reportedly dioicous. Sex organs and sporophytes not seen.

Not illustrated here. Shaw 1981, figs 28–29. Illustrations in Smith (2004, fig. 201, 1–2) show percurrent costae, unlike those occurring in N.Z. material.

The clavate-vermicular shape of some of the gemmae precludes referrring material of this species to P. camptotrachela, the species with which it is most likely to be confused.

Known from only two N.Z. collections. One collection is from the bank of a roadside drainage ditch and the other from a waste area beside a vehicle track, both in tussock grassland. Both collections are from approximately 1000 m elevation.

The name P. flexuosa Hook. has been applied to Tasmanian material by J. Shaw (in herb. CHR) and this name is likely to be a heterotypic synonym. In Smith’s (2004) British Flora the Tasmanian material would key to P. flexuosa, and Smith notes that P. flexuosa is often confused with P. camptotrachela in Europe. Shaw (1981) noted that in North America P. annotina has highly variable gemmae even on single shoots and suggested that these may vary in form depending on the part of the growing season in which they are produced.