Fissidens marthae Cardot

Bruggeman-Nannenga, Maria Alida, 2022, On the peristomes of the corticolous African species of Fissidens Hedw. (Fissidentaceae, Bryophyta), Cryptogamie, Bryologie 20 (2), pp. 9-36 : 11

Fissidens marthae Cardot

( Fig. 1 )

Fissidens marthae is characterized by short, marginal to weakly intramarginal limbidia on the basal part of the vaginant laminae of all or most leaves, pluripapillose leaf cells, and costae ending 2-3 cells below the leaf apex. Corticolous, also saxicolous.

Peristome

Scariosus - type; filaments distinctly bend inwards when moistened, distally divided into two filaments, OPL of undivided part with close-packed, lamellar plates about as high as the trabeculae ( Fig. 1A, B ), ornamentation changing around the bifurcation, OPL cells around the bifurcation surrounded by a continuous wall formed by trabeculae and vertical walls ( Fig. 1A, B ) and torn into two halves beyond the splitting with the two halves bending outwards ( Fig. 1A, B ), filaments “spiral” ( Fig. 1C ); filaments strongly hygroscopic, teeth ±300 µm long, 37.5-40 µm wide at base.

Sporophyte

Seta 1.9-2.2 mm long, smooth; capsule 0.6 × 0.25 mm, exothecial cell columns ±32, the cells oblong to quadratic-oblong, collenchymatous; operculum 0.5-0.6 mm long; spores 8.0-12.5 × 7.0-9.5(-11.5) µm.

Description and illustration

Bruggeman-Nannenga (2006a: fig. 13F-J).

Remark

Figure 1 is included as an example of the ancestral scariosus - type peristome. More examples and an elaborate description of this type are found in Bruggeman-Nannenga (2021).

Figures

FIG. 1. — Fissidens marthae Cardot. A, OPL mid tooth, showing the bifurcation and filaments; B, OPL basal undivided part and bifurcation; C, IPL showing fimbriate trabeculae of the undivided part and high horizontal to oblique IPL (“spiral”) ornamentation of the filaments; D, basal OPL of two teeth; E1-3, side-views of basal part of filament showing the low OPL and thicker IPL; E1, focus on the vertical walls of the OPL; E3, stack of E1 and 2; F, spores. A, D, E from Uganda, Mupanga Falls, Porley U495A, private herbarium Bruggeman-Nannenga; B from Tanzania, Pócs 8633/M, PC; C, F from Central African Republic, S. Ippy, Kéyorédé, Tisserant s.n., PC. Scale bars: A-E, 20 µm; F, 50 µm.