Amblystegium

Creeping feathermoss Amblystegium serpens, copyright Malcolm Storey.

Belongs within: Amblystegiaceae.

Amblystegium is a genus of mosses found in damp habitats with short cells in the leaves and without a beak on the capsule lid (Dixon 1924).

Characters (from Dixon 1924): Plants of differing habit and branching, rarely pinnate. Leaves usually small, mostly more or less ovate-acuminate, usually imbricated all round stems, not complanate nor strongly falcate, frequently moderately falcato-secund; nerve single or rarely absent. Cells more or less parenchymatous, short, often less than five times as long as wide, rhomboid-hexagonal. Seta smooth; capsule narrow, more or less cylindrical, usually curved; lid conical, obtuse or apiculate, rarely more longly acuminate.

<==Amblystegium Schimp. 1853 SK02
    |--*A. serpens (Hedw.) Schimp. 1853 VH02, SK02 [=Hypnum serpens D24]
    |    |--A. s. var. serpens D24
    |    |--A. s. var. angustifolium D24
    |    `--A. s. var. salinum Carr. 1863 [incl. A. serpens var. depauperatum, A. perminimum] D24
    `--+--A. varium (Hedw.) Lindb. 1879 VH02, SK02 (see below for synonymy)
       `--+--A. fluviatile VH02 [=Hypnum fluviatile D24]
          |--A. humile VH02
          `--A. tenax VH02

Amblystegium incertae sedis:
  A. compactum [=Hypnum serpens var. compactum] D24
  A. confervoides [=Hypnum confervoides] D24
  A. curvicaule [=Hypnum curvicaule] D24
    |--A. c. var. curvicaule D24
    `--A. c. var. strictum D24
  A. hygrophilum [incl. Hypnum radicale, A. radicale] D24
  A. irriguum [=Hypnum irriguum] D24
    |--A. i. var. irriguum D24
    `--A. i. var. spinifolium D24
  A. juratzkanum D24 [=A. juratzkae D24, A. serpens var. juratzkanum M08]
  A. kochii [=A. trichopodium var. kochii] D24
  A. sprucei [=Leskea sprucei] D24
  A. subtile D24

Nomina nuda: Amblystegium austropalustre Broth. ex Watts 1899 SK02
             Amblystegium megachaete Dusén 1903 D03
             Amblystegium perhumile Müll.Hal. ex Paris 1900 SK02

Amblystegium varium (Hedw.) Lindb. 1879 VH02, SK02 [=Leskea varia D24, Orthotheciella varia (Hedw.) Ochyra 1998 SK02; incl. Amblystegium austrohygrophilum Broth. 1916 SK02, A. austroserpens Broth. 1915 (preoc.) SK02, A. dicranadelphus (n. n.) SK02]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[D24] Dixon, H. N. 1924. The Student's Handbook of British Mosses 3rd ed. V. V. Sumfield: Eastbourne.

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

[M08] Marstaller, R. 2008. Moosgesellschaften am Südrand des Kyffhäusergebirges bei Bad Frankenhausen (Kyffhäuserkreis). 130. Beitrag zur Moosvegetation Thüringens. Mauritiana 20 (2): 289–348.

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

[VH02] Vanderpoorten, A., L. Hedenäs, C. J. Cox & A. J. Shaw. 2002. Phylogeny and morphological evolution of the Amblystegiaceae (Bryopsida). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 23 (1): 1–21.