BFNA Title: Schofieldia
Author: J. D. Godfrey and G. A. Godfrey
Date: July 21, 2008
Edit Level: R Brum
Version: 2

Bryophyte Flora of North America, Provisional Publication

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SCHOFIELDIA - CEPHALOZIACEAE

XX. SCHOFIELDIA J. D. Godfrey, Bryologist 79: 314. 1976 • [For W. B. Schofield, American bryologist and ecologist, 1927--]

Judith Dean Godfrey

Geoffrey A. Godfrey

Plants robust, translucent, clear green. Stem lacking a hyalodermis; both Frullania-type and lateral-intercalary branching. Leaf cells lacking oil-bodies. Underleaves present. Asexual reproduction by (1--)2-celled fasciculate gemmae originating from elongate, specialized stalks produced on or between reduced, clasping leaves at the apices of gemmiparous shoots. Androecia with antheridial jacket cells not tiered, stalks biseriate. Gynoecia anisomorphic; perianths fleshy and multistratose at the base. Sporophyte seta consisting of 8 epidermal plus 4 inner cells rows; capsule wall 2(--3)-stratose.

Species 1 (1 in the flora): North America, restricted to the Pacific Northwest, and ne Asia (Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia).

SELECTED REFERENCES Bakalin V. A. 2005. Schofieldia and Cryptocoleopsis. The new genera of liverworts (Hepaticae) to the flora of Russia. Botanical Journal 90: 594--603. Godfrey, J. D. 1976. Schofieldia, a new Hepatic from the Pacific Northwest. Bryologist 79: 314--320. Godfrey, J. D. and G. A. Godfrey. 1980. Notes on Hepatics from the Pacific Northwest. Bryologist 83: 224--228. Schuster, R. M. 1993. On Cephalozia pachycaulis sp. nov. and the perimeters of Cephalozia. Bryologist 96: 619--625. Schuster, R. M. 1995. Notes on nearctic Hepaticae. XX. On Schofieldia and evolution in the Cephalozioideae. Fragm. Flor. Geobot. 40: 39--46.

1. Schofieldia monticola J. Godfrey, Bryologist 79: 314. 1976

Plants translucent, clear, bright green, lacking secondary pigmentation, with dead shoots becoming whitish or brownish-tinged, ca. 8.0--15 x 1.5--3 mm (varying to 2.3--3.6 x ca. 1.1 mm in southern extreme of range in Oregon); usually robust, succulent, brittle, growing in crowded, dense turfs, horizontal to slightly ascending at stem apices. Stems stout, fleshy, brittle, whitish-green; in transverse section somewhat walled, hyaline; with both Frullania-type and lateral-intercalary branching. Leaves succubous, symmetrically 2(--3)-lobed, with unlobed half-leaf at base of Frullania-type branch; large, somewhat asymmetrical, broader than long (width 1--1.35 x the length), ovate to ovate quadrate, 1280--1960 x 1300--2400 \um; lobes broadly triangular; margins usually entire, occasionally becoming undulate, infrequently with a large hooked tooth or "thumb" near the antical leaf base; cells of lobe apices and margins 30--62 x 20--48 \um; median cells 40--94(--100) x 30--52 \um; basal cells more elongated, 54--125 x 25--62 \um. Underleaves often obscured by rhizoids; distant; highly variable in form, ranging from small flaps 3--5 cells broad at the base by 3 or more cells high, to larger structures, but not exceeding one-third the size of the leaves; irregularly lobed with variably rounded lobes, or occasionally lanceolate. Asexual reproduction by fasciculate gemmae, few to abundantly produced in masses from elongate, specialized stalks produced on or between reduced, clasping leaves at the apices of gemmiparous shoots; greenish, spheric or more usually elliptic to ovoid; 20--34 x 14--20 \um; (1--)2-celled, thin-walled. Sexual condition dioicous. Androecia with bracts ca. 1040 x 760 \um; antheridia spherical to rounded-elliptical, ca. 160--200 \um. Gynoecial bracts 1160--1696 x (680--)794--1440 \um; bracteole smaller, 640--1480 x 600--1256 \um. Perianth mouth crenulate-denticulate with 1--2-celled teeth, 162--248 x 64--112 \um, mostly formed by projecting ends of mouth cells. Sporophyte seta ca. 220 \um in diameter; epidermal cells 60--70 \um, interior cells 32--54 \um; elaters 112.5--280 \um, 7.5--14 \um in diameter; spiral thickenings 3--4 \um wide. Spores light brown, papillose, 12.5--16 \um.

Sporophytes infrequent, capsules mature late July--late Oct., depending on snow conditions. Seepy slopes or banks of snow-melt rills, streamlets or ponds, sometimes more or less exposed, but usually partially to completely shaded by heathers, subalpine meadows or alpine (tundra) areas; 1200--2000 m, descending lower to 500--1200 m in coastal Alaska and extreme nw B.C.; B.C.; Alaska, Oreg., Wash.; ne Asia (Kamchatka, Russia).

Commonly associated hepatic species include Calypogeia azurea, Lophozia opacifolia, L. wenzelii, Moerckia blyttii, Nardia geoscyphus, N. japonica and Pleurocladula albescens. The Oregon plants examined were growing isolated among mosses, or in patches of reduced-sized plants on soil, rather than in the characteristic tight, luxuriant, pure mats that occur in the core area of its range to the north. Leaf cell sizes of the Oregon plants fit the typical range, but plants ranged much smaller. The easternmost locality known for Schofieldia (R. M. Schuster 1995) is in the Interior Wet Belt of British Columbia, on the windward western slopes of the Selkirk Mountain Range (one of four ranges in the Columbia Mountains). Many coastal species reappear far inland in this Interior Wet Belt, which is separated from the Coast Mountains by a dry interior zone approximately 350 km wide, in which Schofieldia would not be expected to occur. R. M. Schuster (1995) described plants from the northernmost known location in the Talkeetna Mountains, Alaska, as being few, poorly developed and reduced in size. While placing these plants into Schofieldia monticola, he noted that they are "of considerable interest in that they seem to occupy an “uncomfortable midground between the very plesiomorphic Cephalozia pachycaulis and Pleurocladula.” In contrast, W.B. Schofield's specimen from Chisik Island, in the same general vicinity but a more coastal location further to the west, is quite typical for Schofieldia in growth habit and appearance. Schofieldia monticola is abundant and widespread in its coastal, Pacific Northwest range, and had been assumed for over 30 years to be endemic to western North America. However, the recent reports of this species, apparently from a single locality in Kamchatka, Russia, extend the known range into northeastern Asia.