Micropterygium bolivarense Fulford

  • 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

    Micropterygium bolivarense Fulford

  • Description

    Latin Diagnosis - Caules foliosi 0.5-1 cm longi, e viridibus fuscis ad brunneos, vix complanati; folia parva, concava, ex acutis ad breviter bifida, marginibus integris vel dente uno apicem versus instructis, ala absentia vel rare inchoata; foliorum cellulae 16-18 µ, mamillis magnis, trigonibus consjoicuis, cuticulo crasse verruculoso; inflorescentiae masculae feminaeque non visae.

    Species Description - Leafy stems of small to medium size, dark green to brown, scarcely flattened, prostrate or ascendent from a branched rhizome system, scattered among other bryophytes; stems 0.5-1 cm long, with leaves 0.4-0.9 mm broad, sometimes becoming flagelliform, branches frequent, leafy, ventral or lateral. Rhizoids colorless, in tufts on reduced leaves of attenuate stem tips. Leaves symmetric, deeply concave, ovate, without or rarely with a keel-ridge, the apex acute or shortly bifid, often curved upward, the margins entire, serrate, or with an occasional tooth near the tip, a wing absent, or rarely rudimentary, of a few cells, on occasional leaves conspicuous, narrow; leaf cells 16-18 µ, with a very large mamillose projection over each cell, trigones conspicuous, the cuticle rough, warty. Underleaves near the base of the stem large, orbicular, concave, those toward the tip often becoming smaller, the cells as in the leaf. Male and female inflorescences and sporophyte not seen. Pl. 60. Fig. 11, a-e.

    Distribution and Ecology - Habitat: On sandstone rocks, ledges, sandy soil along streams, and on trees in dense forests.

  • Discussion

    The species is simdar to M. campanense in size and habit, cell size and mamillose thickenings, but in M . campanense the wing while small, is well developed, the underleaves are larger, and the mamillae are not so large. M . bolivarense differs from M . parvistipulum in that in the latter the stems are larger, complanate, the leaves are flattened, with a sharp keel and a long broad wing, and the leaf margins are serrate and dentate throughout.