Rigodium

Rigodium
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Bryophyta
Class: Bryopsida
Subclass: Bryidae
Order: Hypnales
Family: Lembophyllaceae
Genus: Rigodium
Kunze ex Schwaegr.

Rigodium is a genus of mosses. Species in this genus are usually epiphytic or terrestrial, generally growing in moist forests. Rigodium has a disjunct distribution in the Americas and Africa, and its center of diversity, where all species occur, is in the Andes of central Chile.[1][2] The genus has been placed in several different families, such as the Brachytheciaceae, Thuidiaceae and Rigodiaceae but molecular phylogenetics work support its placement in the Lembophyllaceae.[3] Rigodium implexum is notable for developing mossballs that carpet the forest floor. These consist in single, highly branched plants of 10–20 cm in diameter that are detached from the soil, and in Chile are known as lana del pobre (wool of the poor).[4]

Species

The species in the genus Rigodium are:

  • Rigodium toxarion (Schwagr.) Jaeg
  • Rigodium brachypodium (C. Mull.) Par
  • Rigodium adpressum Zomlefer
  • Rigodium implexum Kunze ex Schwagr
  • Rigodium pseudo-thuidium Dus

References

  1. ^ Zomlefer, Wendy B. (1993). "A Revision of Rigodium (Musci: Rigodiaceae)". The Bryologist. 96 (1): 1–72. doi:10.2307/3243321. ISSN 0007-2745. JSTOR 3243321.
  2. ^ Zomlefer, Wendy B. (1992). "A New Species of Rigodium (Musci: Rigodiaceae) from Chile and Argentina". Systematic Botany. 17 (1): 67–73. Bibcode:1992SysBo..17...67Z. doi:10.2307/2419065. ISSN 0363-6445. JSTOR 2419065.
  3. ^ Merget, Benjamin; Wolf, Matthias (25 November 2010). "A molecular phylogeny of Hypnales (Bryophyta) inferred from ITS2 sequence-structure data". BMC Research Notes. 3 (1): 320. doi:10.1186/1756-0500-3-320. ISSN 1756-0500. PMC 2998521. PMID 21108782.
  4. ^ Frahm, Jan-Peter (2001). "Note: Mossballs of Rigodium implexum (Rigodiaceae) on the Forest Floor in Chile". The Bryologist. 104 (4): 639–641. doi:10.1639/0007-2745(2001)104[0639:NMORIR]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0007-2745. JSTOR 3244600.