Lepicolea rigida (De Not.) G.A.M.Scott

  • Authority

    Fulford, Margaret H. 1963. Manual of the leafy Hepaticae of Latin America--Part I. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 11: 1-172.

  • Family

    Lepicoleaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Lepicolea rigida (De Not.) G.A.M.Scott

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants large, rigid, dull brown becoming blackish, ascending to erect, in deep cushions or among other bryophytes; stems rigid, 6-10 cm long, with leaves to 1.0 mm or more wide, without paraphyllia, regularly pinnate (occasionally bipinnate), the lateral branches frequent, often becoming attenuate- flagelliform with decurved tips. Line of leaf insertion transverse. Stem leaves subsymmetric, rectangular, to 1.6 mm long, 0.6 mm wide, usually bisbifid; segments lanceolate, sparingly laciniate, the tip attenuate, ending in a uniseriate row of four to eight short, rectangular cells and a slime papilla, in part caducous; dorsal margin of the lamina with occasional teeth and cilia, the ventral margin mostly entire, crenulate; leaf-cells tending to be in rows, those just below the segment 27-45 X 20-24 µ, the walls thickened, trigones and pits frequent, an additional uneven layer of thickening also present, forming an irregular band within the cell, the cell lumina rounded, the cuticle verruculose to striolate; a well-marked vitta extending from the base up into the segments. Underleaves symmetric, similar to the leaves or scarcely smaller. Plants dioicous. Male inflorescence on a lateral vegetative branch, the bracts and bracteoles in to 30 or more series, similar to the branch leaves and underleaves, the bracts concave; antheridia large, globose, one or two in the axils of the bracts. Female inflorescence terminal on the stem or a leading branch, the bracts and bracteoles similar to the leaves, larger; archegonia 12 or more. Coelocaule large, club-shaped, covered with paraphyllia and branched, lanceolate scales, the unfertilized archegonia at the tip. Mature sporophyte, spores and elaters not seen. Fig. 3, a-d.

  • Discussion

    Sendtnera rigida de Notaris, Mem. Accad. Sci. Torino II. 16: 229. pi. 15. 1857. Herbertia rigida (de Notaris) Trevisan, Mem. 1st. Lomb. III. 4: 397. 1877. Leperoma rigida (de Notaris) Massolongo, Nuovo Gior. Bot. Ital. 17: 253. 1885. Lepicolea seriata Herzog, Hedwigia 66: 91. f. 8. 1926. Lepicolea ochroleuca var. seriata Herzog, Nat. Hist. Juan Fernandez & Easter Isl. Botany 2: 728. 1943.

  • Distribution

    Habitat: In wet places among mosses and over rocks and rock ledges.

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