Lepidozia subdichotoma Spruce

  • Authority

    Fulford, Margaret H. 1966. Manual of the leafy Hepaticae of Latin America--Part II. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 11: 173-276.

  • Family

    Lepidoziaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Lepidozia subdichotoma Spruce

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants very slender, thread-like, appearing denuded, in intricate red-brown mats or among other bryophytes; stems pale green, becoming reddish-brown, filiform, to 5 cm or more long, with minute leaves and underleaves, creeping, suberect or pendulous, irregularly pinnately to bipinnately branched, often appearing subdichotomous, the lateral branches long, branched, of unlimited growth, ventral flagelliform branches frequent; stem in transverse section of thick-walled cells, those of the unistratose cortical layer larger than those of the medulla. Line of leaf insertion transverse or nearly so. Stem leaves distant, scale-like, appressed, to 0.25 mm long, more or less quadrate, quadrifid to one third of their length, the segments subulate, at most two cells broad at the base, two or three cells long, the lamina obliquely truncate, without marginal teeth; leaf-cells below the segments averaging 14 × 18 µ, the walls thickened, the cell lumina rounded, the cuticle smooth. Underleaves narrower than the stem, plane, quadrifid to one-half of their length, the segments mostly uniseriate. Branchleaves and underleaves often smaller. Female bracts and bracteoles in three series, the bracts concave, divided in the upper part into three or four segments, the margins subdentate. Perianth fusiform, 3-keeled above, the mouth constricted, subentire. Spruce, 1885.] Male inflorescence and sporophyte not seen. Pl 40. Fig. 2, a-c.

  • Discussion

    The species is to be recognized by its filiform, denuded appearance, the irregularly branched, red-brown steins and the small, appresed, and leaves with subulate segments.

  • Distribution

    Habitat: Over soil in moist mountain forests. ECUADOR: Andes Quitenses: Mt. Abitagua, Spruce, Hb. Jack (G-368); Canelos, Spruce (type MANCH - Kk 1490, isotype G-367); Azuay, s of El Pan, 2650-3290 m, Steyermark 53373 p.p. (F). It has also been reported from Ecuador (Herzog, 1957a).

    Ecuador South America|