FloraOfNewZealand-Mosses-21-Fife-2015-Gigasperm ...

The Gigaspermaceae are a family of five monotypic or ditypic genera. Only one species, Gigaspermum repens (Hook.) Lindb., has been recorded from New Zealand. The plants of G. repens are perennial, and occur mostly on calcareous soils. They have subterranean rhizomes that give rise to pale, budlike female and male shoots. The female shoots bear immersed, pale, wide-mouthed, globose, and gymnostomous capsules that, as implied by the generic name, produce exceptionally large spores. The documented distribution of G. repens in N.Z. is very patchy.