Aulacomniaceae Explained

Aulacomniaceae is a family of mosses.^[1]

Description

Bell et al. (2007) describes members of the family:

• "Morphological traits shared by these taxa include sulcate capsules, deciduous apical leaves, undulate, oblong-ovate and asymmetrical leaves with coarsely-toothed margins, and smooth leaf cells."^[2]

Classification

The placement of the family has been subject to much revision. The family was first described by Wilhelm Philippe Schimper in his 1860 publication Synopsis Muscorum Europaeorum.^[3] Bell et al. (2007) elevated the family to the order Aulacomniales.^[2] However, the Goffinet et al. (2009) classification places the family within the Rhizogoniales.^[1]

The genera represented by the order are:

• Aulacomnium
• Mesochaete
• Hymenodontopsis

Notes and References

1. Goffinet . Bernard . Shaw . A. Jonathon . Morphology and classification of the Bryophyta . Bryophyte Biology . 2009.
2. Bell, N., Quandt, D., O'Brien, T., & Newton, A. (2007). Taxonomy and Phylogeny in the Earliest Diverging Pleurocarps: Square Holes and Bifurcating Pegs. The Bryologist, 110(3), 533-560. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20110887Copy
3. Web site: Aulacomniaceae. Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden.