Rhizogoniaceae

Rhizogonium novae-hollandiae, photographed by Neils Klazenga.

Belongs within: Bryidae.

The Rhizogoniaceae is a family of mosses distinguished by the position of their sporophytes, attached to the gametophytes at the base or basal half of the erect stems. Members of the Rhizogoniaceae are primarily tropical or subtropical, and many species are epiphytic (with a particular liking for tree ferns).

See also: Mosses have a place for reproduction.

Characters (from S. P. Churchill, Bryophyte Flora of North America): Plants small to large, in loose to dense tufts. Stems erect or curved, few branched; central strand well developed; radiculose, often densely tomentose. Leaves spirally arranged or appearing 2-ranked, distant or rather crowded, ovate to narrowly or broadly oblong-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, apex acute to acuminate, base decurrent or not; margins plane or reflexed to recurved, crenulate, dentate or sharply serrate, teeth single and margins 1-stratose or double and margins 2-stratose; 1-costate, strong, percurrent to short-excurrent, toothed abaxially distally or smooth; laminal cells mostly isodiametric and smooth or bulging mammillose, walls firm and entire; alar region undifferentiated. Specialized asexual reproduction lacking or present, in leaf axils of distal stems and branches, cylindrical. Sexual condition synoicous, autoicous, or dioicous. Perigonia bud-like, usually below perichaetia. Perichaetia lateral, at base or at mid stem, leaves small and differentiated. Seta elongate, smooth. Capsule horizontal to erect, short to long-cylindrical, symmetric to asymmetric, curved or straight; opercula conic, short to long-rostrate, oblique; peristome double or absent, exostome teeth 16, cross-striate proximally, papillose distally or papillose throughout; endostome basal membrane moderately high, segments 16, keeled, perforate, cilia usually present, 2-3. Calyptra cucullate. Spores spherical, lightly papillose.

<==Rhizogoniaceae
    |--Goniobryum Lindb. 1865 SK02
    |    `--G. subbasilare (Hooker) Lindb. 1865 (see below for synonymy) SK02
    |--Hymenodon Hooker & Wilson 1844 SK02
    |    |--H. aeruginosus J87
    |    `--H. pilifer Hooker & Wilson 1844 SK02
    |--Mesochaete Lindb. 1870 SK02
    |    |--M. taxiforme (Hampe) Watts & Whitel. 1906 [=Rhizogonium taxiforme; incl. M. grandiretis] SK02
    |    `--M. undulata Lindb. 1870 (see below for synonymy) SK02
    |--Leptotheca Schwägr. 1824 SK02
    |    |--L. gaudichaudii Schwägr. 1824 [=Aulacomnium gaudichaudii, Bryum gaudichaudii] SK02
    |    |    |--L. g. var. gaudichaudii [incl. L. beccarii, Weissia leptocarpa] SK02
    |    |    `--L. g. var. wattsii (Cardot) Churchill & Buck 1982 SK02
    |    `--L. spegazzinii D03
    |--Rhizogonium Brid. 1827 SK02
    |    |--R. alpestre Müll.Hal. 1897 SK02
    |    |--R. distichum (Swartz) Brid. 1827 [=Mnium distichum; incl. R. muelleri] SK02
    |    |--R. graeffeanum (Müll.Hal.) Jaeger 1875 [incl. R. geheebii, Mnium geheebii] SK02
    |    |--R. novae-hollandiae (Brid.) Brid. 1827 (see below for synonymy) SK02
    |    |--R. pennatum Hooker & Wilson 1854 [incl. R. pennatum var. aristatum (Hampe) Dixon 1926] SK02
    |    `--R. setosum [=Pyrrhobryum setosum] SK02
    `--Pyrrhobryum Mitt. 1868 SK02
         |--P. bifarium (Hooker) Manuel 1980 [=Mnium bifarium, Rhizogonium bifarium] SK02
         |--P. medium (Besch.) Manuel 1980 (see below for synonymy) SK02
         |--P. mnioides (Hooker) Manuel 1980 [=Rhizogonium mnioides] SK02
         |    |--P. m. ssp. mnioides SK02
         |    `--P. m. ssp. contortum (Wilson) Fife 1995 (see below for synonymy) SK02
         |--P. paramattense (Müll.Hal.) Manuel 1980 [=Mnium paramattense, Rhizogonium paramattense] SK02
         `--P. spiniforme (Hedw.) Mitt. 1868 (see below for synonymy) SK02

Nomina nuda: Rhizogonium spiniforme var. australe Müll.Hal. 1900 SK02
             Rhizogonium parramattense var. gracilior Watts & Whitel. 1906 SK02
             Rhizogonium spiniforme var. minus Jaeger 1875 SK02
             Rhizogonium parramattense var. minus Watts & Whitel. 1906 non R. spiniforme var. minus Jaeger 1875 SK02
             Rhizogonium parramattense var. nanum Bailey 1883 SK02

Goniobryum subbasilare (Hooker) Lindb. 1865 [=Rhizogonium subbasilare, Trachyloma subbasilare; incl. Photinophyllum pellucidum, Goniobryum pellucidum, Rhizogonium pellucidum, R. reticulatum] SK02

Mesochaete undulata Lindb. 1870 [=Mnium undulatum (preoc.), Rhizogonium undulatum; incl. R. plumaeforme (n. n.)] SK02

Pyrrhobryum medium (Besch.) Manuel 1980 [incl. Rhizogonium brevifolium, Mnium brevifolium, Pyrrhobryum brevifolium (Broth.) Manuel 1980] SK02

Pyrrhobryum mnioides ssp. contortum (Wilson) Fife 1995 [=Rhizogonium mnioides var. contortum; incl. Polytrichum gulliveri, Pogonatum gulliveri (Hampe) Jaeger 1879, Mnium hookeri, Rhizogonium hookeri, R. mnioides var. lutescens, Mnium mossmanianum, R. mossmanianum] SK02

Pyrrhobryum spiniforme (Hedw.) Mitt. 1868 [=Rhizogonium spiniforme; incl. R. spininerve Brid. ex Bailey 1890 (n. n.)] SK02

Rhizogonium novae-hollandiae (Brid.) Brid. 1827 [=Fissidens novae-hollandiae, Conomitrium novae-hollandiae Müll.Hal. 1901 (n. n.), Hypnum novae-hollandiae, Mnium novae-hollandiae, Skitophyllum novae-hollandiae; incl. Bartramia billaridierei (nom. illeg.)] SK02

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[D03] Dusén, P. 1903. Patagonian and Fuegian mosses. In Reports of the Princeton University Expeditions to Patagonia, 1896-1899, vol. 8 – Botany (W. B. Scott, ed.) pp. 63-126. The University: Princeton (New Jersey).

[J87] Judd, W. S. 1987. Floristic study of Morne La Visite and Pic Macaya National Parks, Haiti. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum – Biological Sciences 32 (1): 1-136.

[SK02] Streimann, H., & N. Klazenga. 2002. Catalogue of Australian Mosses. Flora of Australia Supplementary Series 17. Australian Biological Resources Study: Canberra.