Bazzania teretiuscula (Lindenb. & Gottsche) 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 teretiuscula (Lindenb. & Gottsche) Trevis.

Description

Species Description - Plants of medium size, greenish-brown becoming deeply pigmented with brown; stems to 8 cm long, with leaves to 3.2 mm broad, suberect; lateral branches 5 mm or more apart, diverging at a wide angle; flagelliform branches frequent, the scale-leaves small, not as broad as the branch. Leaves approximate to imbricate, deflexed, strongly so when dry, asymmetrically ovate, straight to subfalcate, 1.2-2.2 mm long, to 1 mm broad at the base, narrowed to the more or less obliquely truncate, tridentate apex, the dorsal margin strongly arched from a cordate base, the ventral auricle undulate, entire, toothed, ciliate or appendiculate; teeth mostly spreading, acute, five to eight cells long, four to six cells broad at the base, the margins entire; leaf-cells thin-walled, the cell lumina angular-rounded, the trigones conspicuous, with convex sides, often confluent, the cuticle faintly verruculose; cells of the apical region averaging 20 X 20 µ. Underleaves approximate to imbricate, subquadrate in outline, averaging 0.7 mm long and broad, the base cordate, the auricles rather small, not overlapping, rounded, their margins entire or dentate with one or two broad teeth, or ciliate by a row of two or three cells, the lateral margins convex, entire or rarely with one or two teeth, the apex deeply four-lobed or -toothed, with narrow, acute sinuses. Female branches occasional, the bracts of the intermediate and innermost series long-ovate, divided to one-fifth or one-sixth their length into three, serrate, ciliate laciniae, the cells mostly 36 X 16 µ, the cell walls thin. Male branches, perianths, and sporophytes not seen. Fig. 47, a-h.

Discussion

Mastigobryum teretiusculum Lindenberg & Gottsche in G. L. & N. Syn. Hep. 720. 1847. Bazzania heteroclada Spruce, Trans. Proc. Bot. Soc. Edinb. 15: 379. 1885. Bazzaria spinigera Spruce, Trans. Proe. Bot. Soc. Edinb. 15: 380. 1885. Bazzania humifusa Spruce, Trans. Proc. Bot. Soc. Edinb. 15: 379. 1885. Mastigobryum humifusm Stephani, Hedwigia 44: 225. 1905. Mastigobryum heterocladum Stephani, Spec. Hep. 3: 502. 1908. Mastigobryum spvnigerum Stephani, Spec. Hep. 3: 500. 1908. Bazzania conchophylla Herzog, Rev. Bryol. Lichénol. 11: 20. 1938. Mastigobryum incisostipulum Stephani in Herzog, Biblioth. Bot. 87: 225. f. 165, c-d. 1916. This highly variable species may be recognized by the hook-form insertion of the dorsal base of the leaf, the conspicuous but rarely toothed ventral auricle; the large, subquadrate underleaves which are often conspicuously four-lobed, above and cordate at the base with a spine or tooth from one or both of the auricles.

Distribution

Habitat: On rocks and bases of trees on shaded slopes in moist forests.

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