Bazzania denticulata (Lindenb. & Gottsche) Trevis.
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Authority
Fulford, Margaret H. 1963. Manual of the leafy Hepaticae of Latin America--Part I. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 11: 1-172.
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Family
Lepidoziaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants of medium size to robust, light green becoming brownish-green, in mats; stems stout, 5-10 cm long, with leaves to 3.5 mm broad, prostrate; lateral branches frequent, 5 mm or more apart, diverging at a wide angle; flagelliform branches numerous, short. Line of leaf insertion curved in the upper part. Leaves imbricate, plane, asymmetrically ovate, the margins entire to coarsely spinose-dentate in the upper part, the ventral base often dilated, auriculate with a serrate to dentate or crenulate or entire margin and folded back to form a sac, these better developed on one side of the stem than the other, 1.5-2.5 mm long, to 1 mm broad at the base, narrowing to the sharply tridentate apex; teeth large, spreading, six to eight cells long, five to seven cells broad at the base, the margins entire to coarsely spinose and dentate; leaf-cells uniformly thin-walled, the lumina rounded; cells of the apical region averaging 20 µ, the cuticle faintly verruculose. Underleaves approximate to imbricate, squarrose, subquadrate, broader than the stem, not connate with the leaves, 0.5-1.0 mm long, 0.6-0.9 mm wide, the margin variously toothed with long narrow, often branched teeth or spines. Female branches occasional, the innermost series of bracts large, ovate-lanceolate, divided to one-third their length into usually four dentate-ciliate laciniae, the lateral margins dentate to short-ciliate. Male branches and perianths not seen. Fig. 13, a-h.
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Discussion
Mastigobryum dentieulaturn Lindenberg & Gottsche in G. L. & N. Syn Hep. 718. 1847. Mastigobryum planiusculum Lindenberg & Gottsche in G. L. & N. Syn. Hep. 718. 1847. Bazzania planiuscula Trevisan, Mem. 1st. Lomb. 13: 414. 1877. Non B. planiuscula Spruce. Bazzania rusbyi Spruce, Mem. Torrey Club 1: 129. 1890. There is considerable variation in the leaves of plants from different areas. The outer margins and the teeth may be entire, crenulate, serrate and dentate or spinose. The ventral auricles are always poorly developed on leaves in which the outer margins are scarcely crenulate or serrate, while in leaves with coarsely dentate teeth, the auricles are conspicuous, long with a conspicuously serrate-dentate margin, and often folded back, forming a sac. Such ventral auricles and sacs were best developed on the plants from Peru, collected by Bues. They were also present in some of the plants from Jamaica, but were not so large or so well developed. Large auricles may be conspicuous on the row of leaves on one side of the stem and scarcely developed on the row of leaves opposite. Such sacs are not developed in any other American species of Bazzania.
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Distribution
Habitat: In mountain forests among mosses and on logs and tree bases.
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