Polytrichaceae Temporal range: | |
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Polytrichum commune | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Division: | Bryophyta |
Class: | Polytrichopsida Doweld |
Order: | Polytrichales M. Fleisch. |
Family: | Polytrichaceae Schwägr. |
Genera | |
See text. |
Polytrichaceae is a common family of mosses. Members of this family tend to be larger than other mosses, with the larger species occurring in particularly moist habitats. The leaves have specialized sheaths at the base and a midrib that bears photosynthetic lamellae on the upper surface. These mosses are capable of sustaining high rates of photosynthesis in the presence of ample light and moisture. Unlike all other mosses, the hydroid-based vascular system of these mosses is continuous from stem to leaf and can extract water from the soil through transpiration. [1] Species in this group are dioicous, though some are monoicous. [2] In most species, the sporophytes are relatively large, the setae are rigid, and the calyptrae are hairy. [1] Most species have nematodontous peristomes with 32–64 teeth in their sporangium; [2] some early-diverging genera instead have a stopper mechanism, which consists of the apical section of the columella, that seals the mouth of the capsule shut prior to dehiscence. [1]
class Polytrichopsids
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The phylogenetic position of the Polytrichaceae among the eight classes of mosses, based on inferences from DNA sequence data. [3] [4] |
Takakia is a genus of two species of mosses known from western North America and central and eastern Asia. The genus is placed as a separate family, order and class among the mosses. It has had a history of uncertain placement, but the discovery of sporophytes clearly of the moss-type firmly supports placement with the mosses.
Andreaeaceae is a family of mosses which includes two genera, Andreaea, containing about 100 species, and the genus Acroschisma. The Andreaeaceae prefer rocky habitats ranging from tropical to arctic climates, on which they form tufted colonies, typically with reddish to blackish shoots. The capsules lack the peristome mechanism and dehisce longitudinally to release the spores, resulting in a paper-lantern appearance.
The Bryopsida constitute the largest class of mosses, containing 95% of all moss species. It consists of approximately 11,500 species, common throughout the whole world.
Buxbaumia is a genus of twelve species of moss (Bryophyta). It was first named in 1742 by Albrecht von Haller and later brought into modern botanical nomenclature in 1801 by Johann Hedwig to commemorate Johann Christian Buxbaum, a German physician and botanist who discovered the moss in 1712 at the mouth of the Volga River. The moss is microscopic for most of its existence, and plants are noticeable only after they begin to produce their reproductive structures. The asymmetrical spore capsule has a distinctive shape and structure, some features of which appear to be transitional from those in primitive mosses to most modern mosses.
Orthotrichaceae is the only family of mosses in the order Orthotrichales. Many species in the family are epiphytic.
Grimmiales is an order of mosses in the subclass Dicranidae. It comprises four families: Grimmiaceae, Ptychomitriaceae, Seligeriaceae, and Saelaniaceae.
Sphagnopsida is a class of mosses that includes a single subclass Sphagnidae, with two orders. It is estimated it originated about 465 million years ago, along with Takakia. The order Sphagnales contains four living genera: Ambuchanania, Eosphagnum, and Flatbergium, which counts four species in total, and Sphagnum which contains the rest of the species. The extinct Protosphagnales contains a single fossil species.
The Funariidae are a widespread group of mosses in class Bryopsida. The majority of species belong to the genera Funaria and Physcomitrium.
Seligeriaceae is a family of mosses in the subclass Dicranidae.
Andreaeobryum is a genus of moss with a single species Andreaeobryum macrosporum, endemic to Alaska and western Canada. The genus is placed as a separate family, order and class among the mosses.
Oedipodium is the only genus of moss in the family Oedipodiaceae. It contains the single species Oedipodium griffithianum, the gouty-moss or Griffith's oedipodium moss. This species is distributed in cooler climates of Eurasia, as well as from Alaska, Washington state, British Columbia, Yukon, Greenland, Newfoundland, Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands.
Tetraphidaceae is a family of mosses. It includes only the two genera Tetraphis and Tetrodontium, each with two species. The defining feature of the family is the 4-toothed peristome.
Gigaspermaceae are a family of mosses in the monotypic order Gigaspermales. The order is placed in subclass Gigaspermidae of the class Bryopsida. They were previously placed in subclass Funariidae.
Timmia is a genus of moss. It is the only genus in the family Timmiaceae and order Timmiales. The genus is named in honor of the 18th-century German botanist Joachim Christian Timm.
Hypnales is the botanical name of an order of Bryophyta or leafy mosses. This group is sometimes called feather mosses, referring to their freely branched stems. The order includes more than 40 families and more than 4,000 species, making them the largest order of mosses.
Neosharpiella is a genus of moss containing two species in the family Bartramiaceae. The type species, Neosharpiella aztecorum, grows in alpine regions of central Mexico, while the other species, Neosharpiella turgida, has been found in Bolivia and Ecuador.
Itatiella ulei is a species of moss in the family Polytrichaceae. It is the only species in the genus Itatiella. The Polytrichaceae is a common family of mosses that does not have close living relatives. Its small size and the inflexed leaf apex characterize Itatiella ulei. When this species grows directly exposed to sun at high elevations, it presents a similar aspect but can be distinguished based on the distal lamella cells which are single and rhombic.
Mniaceae is a moss family in the order Bryales.
Ptychomitriaceae is a family of mosses in the subclass Dicranidae.
William Russel Buck is an American bryologist.