Tropicos | Name - *Anisothecium Mitt.

Cent. Amer. Moss > Dicranaceae > Anisothecium

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*Anisothecium Mitt.

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Published In: Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany 12: 39. 1869. (J. Linn. Soc., Bot.)

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 3/24/2011)

Acceptance : Accepted

Project data (Last Modified On 3/24/2011)

Discussion : Anisothecium belongs to a generic complex based entirely on sporophytic or sporophyte-associated characters – stoma, annulus, seta, spore – whose states are present in reticulate combinations. The value of individual characters within the complex is difficult to assess, since character states can be consistent and diagnostic in one element but variable in another. Many species cannot be placed when sporophytes are absent, and the complex is exclusively dioicous.

Anisothecium has been synonymized with Dicranella, but it is probably the complex member most worthy of generic recognition. The genus is marked by three features: 1. operculum shed by means of an annulus that consists of several rows of small, thick-walled, non-revoluble cells, 2. peristome teeth borne on a short, smooth basal membrane, and 3. stomata present. Within the complex the first two features uniquely define Anisothecium. The last feature is also found in Microcampylopus, but that genus has cygneous setae. Thus, Anisothecium differs from each member of the complex by three character states.

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Anisothecium Mitt., J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 12: 39. 1869.

Plants small, terrestrial, in tufts or mats; stems erect, simple or sparsely branched, radiculose at base. Leaves distant below and smaller than upper leaves, erect-spreading to recurved from an ovate-lanceolate or strongly clasping-ovate base, narrowly lanceolate; margins entire below, serrulate above; costa single, stout, percurrent or excurrent; cells smooth; alar cells not differentiated. Dioicous. Setae elongate, erect and weakly flexuous to straight; capsules ovoid to oblong; annuli of several rows of small, thick-walled, non-revoluble cells; stomata present; opercula short rostrate; peristome teeth 16, well-developed, papillose to papillose-striate, divided, inserted above the mouth on a short, smooth basal membrane. Calyptrae cucullate, smooth.

Lower Taxa

!Anisothecium rufescens (Dicks.) Lindb.
!Anisothecium vaginatum (Hook.) Mitt.
!Anisothecium varium (Hedw.) Mitt.

Cite this page: Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 18 Jan 2025<http://www.tropicos.org/Name/35000057>