Juratzkaea

  • Authority

    Ireland, Robert R. & Buck, William R. 1994. Stereophyllaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 65: 1-49. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Stereophyllaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Juratzkaea Lorentz

  • Type

    Type. Leskea semine rvis Kunze ex Schwaegrichen = Stenophyllum seminerve (Kunze ex Schwaegrichen) Mitten s Juratzkaea seminervis (Schwaegrichen) Lorentz

  • Synonyms

    Stereophyllum, Fabroniella

  • Description

    Genus Description - Plants medium-sized, complanate to terete-foliate, in often thin, yellow- to bright-green, glossy mats. Stems creeping, simple or sparingly and irregularly branched; cortical cells small, slightly thicker-walled than the larger internal cells, central strand lacking; rhizoids papillose, in clusters below leaf insertions, sometimes on base of costa or on adjacent cells on dorsal surface of leaves; pseudoparaphyllia foliose; axillary hairs with a single brown basal cell and 3 hyaline apical cells. Asexual propagula unknown. Stem and branch leaves similar, lax, close, erect-spreading, imbricate when dry, concave, nonplicate, symmetric, non-decurrent, lanceolate, gradually long-acuminate; margins plane or recurved at base, entire, sometimes minutely serrulate above; costa single, extending 1/2 the leaf length; cells thin-walled, median cells narrow, flexuose, upper cells long-rhomboidal, smooth, non-porose; alar regions strongly differentiated, cells quadrate to oblong, ± equally distributed on either side of the costa, collenchymatous, extending over the adaxial surface of the costa. Autoicous, often fruiting; perigonia scattered along stems, bracts ovate, shortly and abruptly acuminate, ecostate; perichaetia at bases of stems, leaves oblong-lanceolate to oblong-ovate, abruptly acuminate, entire to coarsely toothed, upper cells linear-rhomboidal, laxly rectangular below, costa single or rarely none, ending below midleaf. Setae smooth, elongate, straight, brown to reddish; capsules erect, straight, smooth, cylindric; exothecial cells thick-walled; annulus lacking; opercula short-conic; peristome double, exostome teeth lanceolate, scarcely bordered, shouldered, outer surface obscurely cross-strio-late below from horizontally arranged papillae, papillose above, inner surface scarcely projecting; endostome smooth or finely papillose, basal membrane low, segments narrow, keeled, perforate, shorter than the teeth, cilia none. Spores spherical, finely papillose. Calyptrae cucullate, smooth, naked.

  • Discussion

    This is a small genus of Southern Hemisphere mosses, represented by two species in Latin America. Juratzkaea differs from the other Stereophyllaceae genera by the papillose rhizoids and the exostome that has horizontally arranged papillae forming somewhat obscure cross-striolations. The genus is also recognized by foliose pseudoparaphyllia, thick-walled exothecial cells and apparent lack of an annulus.

    Juratzkaea is somewhat similar to Sciuroleskea but the latter has foliose rather than filamentous pseudoparaphyllia and it does not have distinctly cross-striolate exostome teeth.

    Buck (1977) monographed the genus but it has undergone more recent nomenclatural changes by Catcheside and Stone (1980) and by Buck (1981). There are two neotropical species and one species each in Australia and South Africa.

  • Distribution

    On base of tree trunks or occasionally on rocks at low elevations in Argentina and Chile, Australia and South Africa.

    Argentina South America| Chile South America| Australia Oceania| South Africa Africa|