FloraOfNewZealand-Mosses-46-Fife-2020-Brachytheciaceae
The Brachytheciaceae are a large family of pleurocarps with a cosmopolitan distribution. Nine genera and 21 species are recognised in New Zealand, although several of the species and at least two of the genera are clearly adventive here. The Brachytheciaceae are placed in the order Hypnobryales (or Hypnales) in all influential 20th century classifications, but there is little consensus concerning the limits of many genera or, indeed, of the family itself. Consequently, both the family and the generic concepts presented here are traditional, and largely conform to concepts employed in recent Australian treatments.
The family representatives are predominantly terrestrial, often robust plants with leaves that have a strong, single costa, and mostly elongate smooth laminal cells. The capsules of the core genus, Brachythecium, are relatively stout, asymmetric, and mostly darkly coloured, with thick-walled exothecial cells, darkly coloured double peristomes, and mostly bluntly conic opercula. Scabrose setae occur in many species of Brachythecium and elsewhere in the family. Many of the genera placed in the family show these sporophytic features, but in others the capsules can be more elongate, the peristomes reduced in complexity, and opercula variable in form. Many taxa exhibit a marked dimorphy between the stem and branch leaves, and this feature is useful in their identification.
While some members are specific in their habitat requirements, many are "weedy" and catholic in this respect. Brachythecium, with several regionally weedy species, is sometimes considered to be among the most difficult of all moss genera to confidently identify, particularly when sporophytes are absent. Not all Brachythecium material can be adequately named regionally, and Rhynchostegium, while a smaller genus, poses comparable identification difficulties.
Additional Information
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Data last updated | 15 June 2020 |
| Metadata last updated | 28 November 2019 |
| Created | 28 November 2019 |
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