| Timmia megapolitana | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Bryophyta |
| Class: | Bryopsida |
| Order: | Timmiales |
| Family: | Timmiaceae |
| Genus: | Timmia |
| Species: | T. megapolitana |
| Binomial name | |
| Timmia megapolitana | |
Timmia megapolitana, also known as Indian feather moss and warrior moss is a genus of moss in the family Timmiaceae and order Timmiales.
Timmia megapolitana is a medium sized and deep green moss that has large leaves that are coarsely serrated in the free portion of the leaf and entirely in the sheathing part of the leaf. The leaves are on average 4–5 mm long with the adaxial leaf surface bulging mammilose while the abaxial surface is not. It can be found in loose aggregations or individual stems. The stems are on average 2–6 cm high following a simple or branched pattern. When the leaves become dry they curl up into a tubular shape but spread when moist. The spores are on average 10-14 µm in diameter with a yellow color and rough surface. [1]
The stems are on average 2–6 cm high following a simple or branched pattern. When the leaves become dry they curl up into a tubular shape but spread when moist. The spores are on average 10-14 µm in diameter with a yellow color and rough surface. [2]
Timmia megapolitana is found in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Mongolia and Russia
While the family Timmiaceae is mostly found in the northern hemisphere T. megapolitana has been identified to follow an Arctic-montane distribution pattern and can easily be found in mountainous regions. It has also been found to be common in temperate regions in North America near rivers and in Europe within lowland areas near the Baltic sea. [3]
Near marshes or locations of high water content, on wet soil or rocks near streams, grasslands or in bogs, needs constant water supply. [2]
It is commonly found around habitats with large water content as it needs a constant water supply. It can be found on wet soil, rock near streams, grasslands, marshes or bogs. [2] T. megapolitana has been found growing in wet horizontal willow steps, roots, and fallen branches within ditches that contain clay. It was also found to be surrounded by many other bryophytes in abundance. [3]
Timmia megapolitana can also be found at upper elevations in mixed conifer forests. [1] It was found in the northern part of Estonia within moist and shady forest near coastal calcareous cliffs and found in Pine forests that have been exposed to calcareous dust from nearby quarries on the decaying tree stumps of Salix caprea. [4] In Germany and Poland the species was found to be in calcareous marshy meadows, hayfield, and on slopes of marl. [3]
In eastern North America, T. megapolitana is found in river bottoms swamps, moist and shaded soil or humus, and rarely at the base of trees. It has also been identified on the banks of ravines or on the crevices of cliffs. Both Siberia and the Netherlands share similar habitats for T. megapolitana in which the species is found on mud-covered willows in forests along rivers. The willows it was found on were mostly Salix viminalis. [3]
Timmia has been found to often be covered with silt and is restricted to a part of the Biesbosch with small scale tidal divides. It has been found near tidal floods along with algae of the genus Vaucheria catching silt and allowing vascular plants to germinate. [3]
Timmia megapolitana is monoicous. [5] Like all mosses, it utilizes alternation of generation. This means that during their life cycle, they alternate between two generations where they’re either in a sexual or asexual phase. In the gametophyte generation, this is where they produce gametes while in the sporophyte generation this is where they produce spores. In bryophytes, the dominant generation is the gametophyte which means that the sporophyte generation depends on it. The gametophytes have male reproductive organs called antheridia and female reproductive organs called archegonia. For fertilization, they use water as a mode of transmission for the sperm to swim to the egg. When fertilization takes place, a zygote is produced and this eventually develops into a sporophyte onto the gametophyte plant (which is the parent). The sporophyte then goes on to make spores that are haploid which can then eventually become gametophyte plants in the next generation. [6] [7]
Timmia megapolitana is considered to be dispersed by ducks and geese. It does not have flowers or fruit and because it is a moss, it produces spores as a means to reproduce. [8]
According to the IUCN, the overall conservation status of T. megapolitana is LC (least concern). The threats identified consist mostly of pollution and Agricultural and forestry effluents. The habitat of this species needs access to water however the threats mentioned affect this. It was observed that in Poland the species was threatened with extinction due to road construction in the 1930s, which most likely destroyed a subpopulation of the species on the roadside back near Elblag. [9]
It is also in the Red lists of Germany and Poland as Extinct, Critically Endangered in Spain and Romania, Endangered in Ukraine, Globally Endangered in the Netherlands, Regionally Extinct in Finland, and Vulnerable in Great Britain and Estonia. [4]
It has been argued that even though it appears to be conserved in eastern European countries due to its rarity and disappearances, T. megapolitana should be recognized as a Red List species on a European scale. [8]
Pollution and Agricultural & forestry effluents.
Many species of moss are used for medicinal purposes. It has been most often used as a way to treat various ailments such as the common cold and hypertension due to its diuretic properties. [10]
Alternation of generations is the predominant type of life cycle in plants and algae. In plants both phases are multicellular: the haploid sexual phase – the gametophyte – alternates with a diploid asexual phase – the sporophyte.
Bryophytes are a group of land plants, sometimes treated as a taxonomic division, that contains three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. In the strict sense, Bryophyta consists of the mosses only. Bryophytes are characteristically limited in size and prefer moist habitats although they can survive in drier environments. The bryophytes consist of about 20,000 plant species. Bryophytes produce enclosed reproductive structures, but they do not produce flowers or seeds. They reproduce sexually by spores and asexually by fragmentation or the production of gemmae. Though bryophytes were considered a paraphyletic group in recent years, almost all of the most recent phylogenetic evidence supports the monophyly of this group, as originally classified by Wilhelm Schimper in 1879. The term bryophyte comes from Ancient Greek βρύον (brúon) 'tree moss, liverwort', and φυτόν (phutón) 'plant'.
Non-vascular plants are plants without a vascular system consisting of xylem and phloem. Instead, they may possess simpler tissues that have specialized functions for the internal transport of water.
Monoicy is a sexual system in haploid plants where both sperm and eggs are produced on the same gametophyte, in contrast with dioicy, where each gametophyte produces only sperm or eggs but never both. Both monoicous and dioicous gametophytes produce gametes in gametangia by mitosis rather than meiosis, so that sperm and eggs are genetically identical with their parent gametophyte.
Plant reproduction is the production of new offspring in plants, which can be accomplished by sexual or asexual reproduction. Sexual reproduction produces offspring by the fusion of gametes, resulting in offspring genetically different from either parent. Asexual reproduction produces new individuals without the fusion of gametes, resulting in clonal plants that are genetically identical to the parent plant and each other, unless mutations occur.
Aulacomnium palustre, the bog groove-moss or ribbed bog moss, is a moss that is nearly cosmopolitan in distribution. It occurs in North America, Hispaniola, Venezuela, Eurasia, and New Zealand. In North America, it occurs across southern arctic, subboreal, and boreal regions from Alaska and British Columbia to Greenland and Quebec. Documentation of ribbed bog moss's distribution in the contiguous United States is probably incomplete. It is reported sporadically south to Washington, Wyoming, Georgia, and Virginia.
Polytrichum juniperinum, commonly known as juniper haircap or juniper polytrichum moss, is an evergreen and perennial species of moss that is widely distributed, growing on every continent including Antarctica.
Dawsonia superba is a moss in the family Polytrichaceae that is found in Australia, New Guinea, Malaysia and New Zealand. D. superba is the tallest self-supporting moss in the world, reaching heights of 60 cm (24 in). It has analogous structures to those in vascular plants that support large size, including hydroid and leptoid cells to conduct water and photosynthate, and lamellae that provide gas chambers for more efficient photosynthesis. D. superba is a member of the class Polytrichopsida, although it has a sporophyte that is unique from other hair-cap mosses.
Hypnodendron comosum, commonly known as palm moss or palm tree moss, is a ground moss which can be divided into two varieties: Hypnodendron comosum var. comosum and Hypnodendron comosum var. sieberi. Both Hypnodendron varieties most commonly grow in damp locations in the temperate and tropical rainforests of New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania in southern Australia and in New Zealand.
Splachnaceae is a family of mosses, containing around 70 species in 6 genera. Around half of those species are entomophilous, using insects to disperse their spores, a characteristic found in no other seedless land plants.
Pogonatum urnigerum is a species of moss in the family Polytrichaceae, commonly called urn haircap. The name comes from "urna" meaning "urn" and "gerere" meaning "to bear" which is believed to be a reference made towards the plant's wide-mouthed capsule. It can be found on gravelly banks or similar habitats and can be identified by the blue tinge to the overall green colour. The stem of this moss is wine red and it has rhizoids that keep the moss anchored to substrates. It is an acrocarpous moss that grows vertically with an archegonium borne at the top of each fertilized female gametophyte shoot which develops an erect sporophyte.
Polytrichum strictum, commonly known as bog haircap moss or strict haircap, is an evergreen and perennial species of moss native to Sphagnum bogs and other moist habitats in temperate climates. It has a circumboreal distribution, and is also found in South America and Antarctica.
Buxbaumia viridis, also known as the green shield-moss, is a rare bryophyte found sporadically throughout the northern hemisphere. The gametophyte of this moss is not macroscopically visible; the large, distinct sporophyte of B. viridis is the only identifying structure of this moss. This moss can be found singularly or in small groups on decaying wood, mostly in humid, sub-alpine to alpine Picea abies, Abies alba, or mixed tree forests. This moss is rare and conservation efforts are being made in most countries B. viridis is found in.
Plagiomnium venustum, also known as magnificent leafy moss, is a species of moss belonging to the family Mniaceae. It is found mainly in western North America along the coastal region. This moss can be identified from other members of the Plagiomnium genus by dark coloured stomata guide cells and the absence of sterile stems. It is most commonly found growing as a mat on a variety of substrate, but mainly on humus and moist soil.
Andreaea rupestris is a species of moss in the class Andreaeopsida, are commonly referred to as the "lantern mosses" due to the appearance of their dehisced sporangia. It is typically found on smooth, acidic, exposed rock in the Northern hemisphere. It exhibits the common features of the genus Andreaea such as being acrocarpous, having dark pigmentation, lacking a seta, and bearing 4 lines of dehiscence in its mature sporangia, but can be further identified upon careful examination of its gametophytic leaves which have an ovate base to a more blunt apex compared to other similar species.
Tortula muralis, commonly known as wall-screw moss, is a species of moss in the family Pottiaceae. T. muralis is found throughout the world.
Syntrichia latifolia, formerly Tortula latifolia, and commonly known as water screw-moss, is a species of moss belonging to the family Pottiaceae. Syntrichia species differ from members of Tortula due to synapomorphic leaf qualities, such as different basal and distal cells, as well as different costal cross sections where Tortula has an abaxial epidermis and Syntrichia lacks one.
Polytrichastrum formosum, commonly known as the bank haircap moss, is a species of moss belonging to the family Polytrichaceae.
Andreaea blyttii, also commonly known as Blytt's rock moss, is a moss belonging to the family Andreaeaceae, commonly known as rock moss, granite moss, or lantern moss because of this family's unique sporangium. It is part of the genus Andreaea which is known for forming dark brownish or reddish-black carpets in high elevations. This species was first described by Schimper in 1855.
Dicranoloma billardierei is a species of bryophyte in the genus Dicranoloma. This moss is extremely common in wet rainforest habitats. In the field, Dicranoloma billardierei, is often confused with Dicranoloma robustum and Dicranoloma fasciatum. However, the short and obtuse nature of the leaves make this moss normally very distinctive.