Bazzania jamaicensis (Lehm. & Lindenb.) Trevis.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Lepidoziaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Bazzania jamaicensis (Lehm. & Lindenb.) Trevis.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants large, olive-green to brownish-green, strongly pigmented with brown; stems stout, to 10 cm or more long, with leaves to 4 mm broad, prostrate to suberect; lateral branches frequent, mostly more than 5 mm apart, diverging at a wide angle; flagelliform branches frequent, long, often branched. Leaf insertion curved in its upper half. Leaves imbricate, convex, strongly deflexed even when moist, asymmetrically ovate, a little falcate, to 2 mm long, 1-1.5 mm broad at the base, narrowing a little to the rather broad, transversely truncate, irregularly tridentate, apex; teeth acute, narrow to broad, some obscure, two to six cells long, two to nine cells broad at the base, the sinuses acute to lunulate; leaf-cells thin-walled, the lumina angular-rounded, the trigones small, conspicuous, soon becoming coalesced in the marginal and apical regions, the cuticle smooth to faintly verruculose; cells of the apical region averaging 20 X 20 µ. Underleaves approximate to imbricate, broader than the stem, appressed, broadly reniform from an auricled base, very concave when seen from above, 0.65 mm long, 0.8-1 mm broad at the base, the margin entire and often deep brown, the cells 22-32 µ long and broad, the lumina angular-rounded, the trigones small, conspicuous, the walls soon becoming thick by deposits of secondary thickenings and coalesced trigones. Male branches occasional, the bracts ovate, to 0.56 mm long, to 0.64 mm broad at the base, the apex entire, or with two or three short teeth, the bracteoles smaller; antheridia occurring singly. Female branches and sporophytes not seen. Fig. 29, a-e.

  • Discussion

    Herpetium jamaicense Lehmann & Lindenberg in Lehmann, Pug. Pl. 7: 7. 1838. Mastigobryum jamaicense Lehmann & Lindenberg in G. L. & N. Syn. Hep. 223. 1845. Mastigobryum chamaecardion Herzog ms. (nomen nudum.) Mastigobryum caracanum Stephani, Spec. Hep. 3: 525. 1909. Bazzania jamaicensis var. chamaecardia Herzog, Rev. Bryol. Lichénol. 11: 19. 1938.

  • Distribution

    Habitat: In deep tufts or mats on trunks of trees.

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