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BFNA Title: Mastigophoraceae |
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MASTIGOPHORA – MASTIGOPHORACEAE MASTIGOPHORACEAE
Schuster, J. Hattori Bot. Lab. 36: 345. 1972 W. B. Schofield Plants large, 5--15 cm; branching exclusively
terminal, pinnate to bipinuate. Stem with
cortical cells collenchymatous, cuticle smooth; anisophyllous. Leaves asymmetric, the antical lobe
larger and undivided, the postical 1--4 subdivided; dioicous. Sexual
condition with sexual branches short; perianth rudimentary, often divided
into lobed bracts. Capsule spherical,
epidermal cells largely without secondary thickenings. Genera 2 (1 in
the flora): Predominantly Old World tropical and subtropical to Southern
Hemisphere temperate (New Zealand). The only genus
of the family in the North Temerate Zone is Mastigophora.. SELECTED
REFERENCE: Inoue, H. Memoir of the Genus Mastigophora
Nees. Bull. Nat. Sci. Museum
(Tokyo) 14: 603--608. XX.
MASTIGOPHORA Nees, Naturg. Europ. Leberm. 3: 89. 1883, conserved name * [Greek
mastix, whip, and phora, carrying, referring to flagelliform
branch apices] Plants in loose rusty or orange-brown
to nearly black mats of erect, reclining to semi-erect or arching shoots,
regularly to irregularly pinnate or 2-prinnate, the branch apices frequently
attenuate and flagelliform; rhizoids absent or scarce, confined to
leaves at apices of flagelliform branches. Leaves of stem incubous to transverse,
asymmetrical, convex, postical lobes of stem leaves acuminate to ciliate,
leaf cells with large, nodular, sometimes confluent trigones; branch leaves also asymmetric but
usually unequally 2-lobed; oil bodies spherical, elliptical or fusiform;
underleaves 1/2 size of lateral and 2--4 lobed with broadly recurved lateral
margins and sinus gibbous; paraphyllia usually scarce, forked or simple. Sexual
condition dioicous. Specialized
asexual reproduction
absent. Sporophytes unknown in Northern Hemisphere. Species 4 (1 in the flora): disjunctive between w North America, w Europe, se Asia, and Pacific Islands (New Zealand); terrestrial or epiphytic, cliffs, peatland, predominantly in high-moisture temperate to subtropical climates, 0--4000 m. 1. Mastigophora woodsii (Hooker) Nees, Naturg. Europ. Leberm. 3:95. 1838 Jungermannia woodsii Hooker, Brit. Jung. tab. 66. 1814 Plants reddish or golden-brown to nearly black; branches
frequently with branchlets, some flagelliform, others blunt, especially at
the apex of the main shoot and most distal branches. Leaves
of stem not strongly
overlapping on the red-brown stem, exposing the parallel-oriented abundant
filiform paraphyllia, usually 3-lobed, the antical markedly larger than the
others, with ciliate margins; branch leaves more closely overlapping;
underleaves 2-lobed, margins ciliate.
Sexual branches and sporophytes
unknown. Mainly in extremely humid sites
in high-moisture climates near the ocean, in peatland, usually somewhat
shaded, bogs, cliff shelves, stream banks; 0--50 m, but to 4000 m in
Himalayas; B.C. (Queen Charlotte Islands, Pitt Island); Europe (Faeroe
Islands, w Ireland, Scotland; Asia (India, Taiwan). The species is clearly relictual
in its whole range, lacking sexual or vegetative reproduction, and the
distribution apparently strongly controlled by an extremely high-moisture
climate. |