dcsimg

Conocephalum-salebrosum_13

Image of Conocephalaceae

Description:

Conocephalum salebrosum Szweyk., Buczk. & Odrzyk.Order: MarchantialesEN: Snakewort, Snake-skin Liverwort, DE: Mattes KegelkopfmoosSlo.: kajekoi veliki jetrenjakDat.: April 9. 2019Lat.: 46.35866 Long.: 13.70495Code: Bot_1178/2019_DSC05589, Bot_1180/2019_DSC465 Picture file names: from Conocephalum-salebrosum_raw_10 to Conocephalum-salebrosum_raw_21.Habitat: Moderately incline mountain slope, southeast aspect; river bank, a few m above water level, mixed wood and bushes; humid, cold and shady place; calcareous, rocky ground, partly protected from direct rain by tree canopies, average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 6-8 deg C, elevations 530 m (1.740 feet), alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: Rocks and soil covered by mosses.Place: Lower Trenta valley, between villages Soa and Trenta, in the Matev's gorge, East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC. Comment: Present day liverworts are the closest living relatives of the first land plants, which emerged about 500 million year ago. Conocephalum salebrosum is a species described no earlier than in 2005 (Ref. 6). It is a widespread liverwort. Pictures show male gametophyte (Conocephalum salebrosum is a dioecious species, that means, male and female plants are different). It is very similar to more common Conocephalum conicum and hence not easy to be separated from it in the field (Ref. 4 and 5). The main three diagnostic morphologic traits are the size of the thallus (C. salebrosum is smaller), shiny surface of the thallus of C. conicum, and more conspicuous borders between surface cells of the upper side of the thallus of C. salebrosum.On my pictures one can also see also several antheridial pads (Fig. 15) as well as two brown 'buds' sheathed by scales at the apices of the thalli (overwintering stage, which develops new thalli) (Fig. 13, at the lower edge of the uppermost light green thallus lobe). Also pegged rhizoids (a primitive root-like structures) (Fig.20) which are dead at maturity and function as an effective external waterconducting system are shown. A second type of rhizoids also exist with Conocephalum salebrosum, which are smooth and serve for nutrition and anchorage purposes. These dimorphic rhizoids are characteristic of the archaic, but nevertheless highly developed, complex thalloid liverworts (Ref.7).Yet, I do not know what are the black pits in the thalli (Fig.13, 18) with black, beaked, pear-like structure in the middle. Even in the case that the pictures show a mix of male and female gametophytes, these structures don't look like stalked archegoniophores (the cone-shaped receptacles that bear sporangia) of the female plants. Is this a parasitizing fungus? Ref.:(1) Personal communication with Guido Brusa via iNaturalist.(2) Ian Atherton, Ed., Mosses and Liverworts of Britain and Ireland - a field guide, British Bryological Society (2010), p255. (3) blogs.ubc.ca/biology321/?page_id=3358 (accessed February 6. 2021)(4) websites.rbge.org.uk/bbs/Recording/conocephalum/conoimage... (accessed February 6. 2021)(5) websites.rbge.org.uk/bbs/Recording/conocephalum/conosurve... (accessed February 6. 2021)(6) J. Szweykowski, K. Buczkowska, I.J. Odrzykoski, Conocephalum salebrosum (Marchantiopsida, Conocephalaceae) - A new Holarctic liverwort species, 2005, Plant Systematics and Evolution 253(1):133-158 www.researchgate.net/publication/226397121_Conocephalum_s... (7) J. G. Duckett, R. Ligrone, K. S. Renzaglia, S. Pressel, (2013) Pegged and smooth rhizoids in complex thalloid liverworts (Marchantiopsida): structure, function and evolution, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 174, 6892., onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/boj.12121 (accessed February 6. 2021)Camera: Nikon D700 / Nikkor Micro 105mm/f2.8 and Sony ILCE6000 / Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar E 16-70 mm/f4

Source Information

license
cc-by-nc-sa
copyright
Amadej Trnkoczy
photographer
Amadej Trnkoczy
original
original media file
visit source
partner site
Flickr Group
ID
16eff440b0814eff36adc26ae431915b