Neolepidozia oligophylla (Lehm. & Lindenb.) Fulford & J.Taylor

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

Neolepidozia oligophylla (Lehm. & Lindenb.) Fulford & J.Taylor

Description

Species Description - Plants small, whitish-green to deeply pigmented with red-brown, often etiolated, in deep tufts or among other bryophytes; stems 2-6 cm long, with leaves to 0.5 mm broad, slender, irregularly bipinnately branched, the lateral branches few to many, long, often branched, some becoming flagelliform in the outer part, ventral intercalary branches long, slender, flagelliform, rarely leafy; stem in transverse section averaging 0.4 mm across, the unistratose cortical layer of 12 large, thin-walled cells 30 × 70 µ, the cells of the medulla under 45 µ, the walls thin with very small trigones. Line of leaf insertion oblique, the leaves incubous. Leaves distant to approximate, patent, rectangular in outline, to 0.5 mm long, 0.35 mm wide, the dorsal margin curved, longer than the ventral margin, the cells in eight longitudinal rows from the base, the apex quadrifid; segments (teeth) only two or three cells long, two cells wide at the base; leafcells 40-45 × 30 µ, the walls uniformly thickened, the cuticle faintly verruculose. Underleaves similar to the leaves, large, only slightly shorter, appressed or spreading, of eight rows of cells, the segments obtuse, the base of two cells. Male inflorescence on a short ventral sexual branch, catkin-like, the bracts and bracteoles in few series. Female inflorescence and sporophyte not seen. Pl. 46. Fig. 3, a-d.

Discussion

The packet of the original collection of the manuscript (?) species Lepidozia Schwabei Herzog in the Herzog Herbarium contains both N. seriate.rta and N. oligophylla.

Distribution

Habitat: Among Sphagnum, or in tufts in wet places.

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