Hookeriales

Article By:

Crum, Howard Herbarium, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Last reviewed:January 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.322200

An order of the true mosses (subclass Bryidae), found mostly in the tropics (see illustration). The Hookeriales are no doubt heterogeneous, but most have well-developed double costae. The plants are usually shiny and often yellowish. The stems are creeping to spreading or ascending, and sparsely to freely and irregularly branched, or frondose. The leaves are often asymmetric and complanate, and commonly bordered and toothed. The cells are often large and lax, and the alar cells are not differentiated. The sporophytes are lateral, with setae short to elongate and often rough, even bristly. The capsules may be erect to inclined, but are essentially symmetric. The double peristome consists of 16 teeth which are long and slender, gradually tapered, papillose throughout or cross-striolate below, bordered, and often furrowed, with an endostome consisting of 16 keeled segments from a basal membrane. The calyptrae may be cucullate or mitrate and often ciliate-fringed.

The content above is only an excerpt.