Echinophyllum T. J. O’Brien, Bryologist. 103: 513. 2000.
[Greek echinos, sea-urchin or hedgehog, and phyllon, leaf]
Terry J. O’Brien
Plants small to medium sized, in mats, green or yellowish green. Stems prostrate, 1-pinnate or less commonly irregularly 2-pinnate; paraphyllia polymorphous, commonly branched-filiform, less commonly unbranched or narrowly lanceolate, distal cells oblong, smooth or papillae present over end walls, terminal cell lanceolate, smooth, crowned with a bluntly conic cell wall thickening; pseudoparaphyllia lanceolate (or ovate-lanceolate), with ciliate or serrate margins, proximal cells subquadrate and commonly centrally papillose. Stem leaves distant, spreading, deeply 2--4-plicate, broadly ovate, rarely elliptical, abruptly narrowed to a subulate, flexuose or circinate acumen; proximal margins plane or recurved, fimbriate with paraphyllia-like appendages; distal margins spinose-serrate; acumen margins smooth or distantly serrulate; laminal cells with a single bluntly conic papilla on abaxial surface and smooth or papillose on adaxial surface; cells of the acumen smooth, oblong or linear. Branch leaves slightly overlapping, spreading or spreading-erect, ± catenulate when dry, differentiated from stem leaves, broadly ovate and concave, abruptly narrowed to an acute tip; distal medial cells irregular and rhombic, oblong or subquadrate, walls incrassate, terminal cell lanceolate, smooth, with a distal bluntly conic wall thickening. Sexual condition dioicous.
Species 1: nw North America, Asia (e China; Japan; Korea; e Russia).
SELECTED REFERENCES
O’Brien, T. J. and D. Horton. 2000. Bryochenea (Musci; Thuidiaceae) is Cyrto-hypnum (Thuidiaceae), but B. sachalinensis is Echinophyllum (Thuidiaceae), a new genus from the Pacific Rim. Bryologist 103: 509--517. O’Brien, T. J. 1993. Bryochenea sachalinensis (Thuidiaceae) new to North America in south-central Alaska. Bryologist 96: 205--209.
