| Tortula muralis | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Bryophyta |
| Class: | Bryopsida |
| Subclass: | Dicranidae |
| Order: | Pottiales |
| Family: | Pottiaceae |
| Genus: | Tortula |
| Species: | T. muralis |
| Binomial name | |
| Tortula muralis | |
Tortula muralis, commonly known as wall-screw moss, is a species of moss in the family Pottiaceae. [2] T. muralis is found throughout the world. [2]
Due to the diversity of the genus Tortula, there are groups of taxa within the genus that are more closely related than others. [3] The genus Tortula and the genus Barbula were previously used interchangeably, and some species have since been reclassified. [4] [5]
The T. muralis complex consists of four taxa (T. lingulate, T. obtusifolia, T. muralis var. aestiva, T. muralis var. muralis), two of which are T. muralis varieties. They are similar in appearance and are commonly mistaken for each other. [3]
Tortula muralis forms greyish-green cushions no more than 1 cm (0.39 in) tall, with tongue-shaped leaves possessing acute to rounded leaf apices that approach a point. [6] The leaf margins are narrowly recurved near their apex, and are distally bordered with two to four thicker rows of cells that bear or lack papillae. The costa are long, sometimes excurrent, and lack an adaxial pad of cells. They are narrow distally, with hexagonal distal laminal cells measuring 10-15 µm wide. These cells bear many papillae. The moss is autoicous, and its sporophytes are exerted. Its seta measure 0.6–1.5 cm (0.24–0.59 in). Its erect and cylindrical capsules are stegocarpic, not systylius. Its urn measures 1.5-2.7 mm and its peristome 300 µm. Its spherical spores are either very finely papillose or border on smooth, measuring 8-12 µm. [2]
The moss can be distinguished from similar mosses by its erect and cylindrical capsule and its "hair-pointed" leaves. Neighboring Barbula species are distinguished primarily by its lack of hair-pointed leaves and Grimmia species, which possess the hair-apices, have short and ovoid capsules. Other Tortula species are similar morphologically to T. muralis, but none are as abundant as the species. Microscopically, T. moralis differs from other Tortula species in its recurved leaf margins and smooth hair-apex. [6]
T. muralis is most commonly found at moderate elevations in urban areas on concrete, brick walls, soil, rocks, or trees. [2] Distribution of T. muralis is said to be cosmopolitan, meaning that it is widely distributed across the globe and can be found in a variety of conditions. [7] [3] It is found in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Atlantic islands, New Zealand, and Australia. [2]
Just as in all other Bryophytes, T. muralis undergoes an alternation of heteromorphic generations, meaning that it alternates between two generations: Gametophyte and Sporophyte. [8]
The haploid gametophyte generation is the dominant state. [8] Begins with the haploid spores that gives rise to protonema, and eventually producing the gametophyte. [8] The gametophyte then develops the reproductive structures: archegonium, the female reproductive structure that produces eggs, and antheridium, the male reproductive structure that produces sperms. [8] The egg and the sperm fuse together to form a diploid zygote. [8]
The diploid sporophyte generation begins when the zygote is formed. [8] The zygote eventually becomes an embryo and gives rise to the sporophyte which produces spores through meiosis and are released when conditions are optimal. [8]
Mosses have been used to monitor long-term air pollution such as trace metal depositions. [9] Mosses are used as air quality trackers because the elements are drawn into the moss through air absorption as well as water absorption in which the rain carries the elements into the tissues. [9] Ultimately, the absorbed element concentration in the moss precisely measures the air pollution in the atmosphere. [9] In most cases, mosses with a pleurocarpous growth habit are used because they are more sensitive to dryness and pollution. [9] However, not many are found in urban areas and thus, T. muralis, an acrocarpous moss, are used to monitor long-term air pollution in urban areas. [9]
T. muralis is recognized as a G5 status indicating that the species is "globally secure, abundant, and demonstrably widespread". [1]
A gametophyte is one of the two alternating multicellular phases in the life cycles of plants and algae. It is a haploid multicellular organism that develops from a haploid spore that has one set of chromosomes. The gametophyte is the sexual phase in the life cycle of plants and algae. It develops sex organs that produce gametes, haploid sex cells that participate in fertilization to form a diploid zygote which has a double set of chromosomes. Cell division of the zygote results in a new diploid multicellular organism, the second stage in the life cycle known as the sporophyte. The sporophyte can produce haploid spores by meiosis that on germination produce a new generation of gametophytes.
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'.
A sporophyte is the diploid multicellular stage in the life cycle of a plant or alga which produces asexual spores. This stage alternates with a multicellular haploid gametophyte phase.
Hornworts are a group of non-vascular Embryophytes constituting the division Anthocerotophyta. The common name refers to the elongated horn-like structure, which is the sporophyte. As in mosses and liverworts, hornworts have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of genetic information; the flattened, green plant body of a hornwort is the gametophyte stage of the plant.
Fissidens adianthoides, the maidenhair pocketmoss, is a moss in the family Fissidentaceae. It was first collected by Hedwig in 1801.
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.
Conocephalum is a genus of complex thalloid liverworts in the order Marchantiales and is the only extant genus in the family Conocephalaceae. Some species of Conocephalum are assigned to the Conocephalum conicum complex, which includes several cryptic species. Conocephalum species are large liverworts with distinct patterns on the upper thallus, giving the appearance of snakeskin. The species Conocephalum conicum is named for its cone-shaped reproductive structures, called archegoniophores. Common names include snakeskin liverwort, great scented liverwort and cat-tongue liverwort.
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.
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.
Tortula is a genus of mosses in the family Pottiaceae.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Timmia megapolitana, also known as Indian feather moss and warrior moss is a genus of moss in the family Timmiaceae and order Timmiales.
