Frullania chevalieri (R. M. Schust.) R. M. Schust., previously only known from New Caledonia, is formally reported for the first time for New Zealand. This species represents an important element in the Jubulaceae because it is morphologically allied to a small group of species historically assigned to Schusterella S. Hatt. et al., which has a complicated and controversial taxonomic history. There has been no critical reassessment of Schusterella for over 30 years since the genus was first proposed and this has led to competing contemporary classifications systems. However, chemical and morphological evidence indicates very strongly that Frullania chevalieri and its allies should indeed be retained in the genus Frullania. Frullania chevalieri is described and illustrated in detail and a brief synopsis of morphologically allied species is made; characters associated with the sporophyte and oil-bodies are reported for the first time. The distinguishing features of F. chevalieri and its close morphological allies include the small plant size coupled with the dentate margins of the leaf-lobe.

Since a number of studies have shown a strong positive correlation between apothecia production and lichen thallus size, it has been suggested that size can serve as an easy measure of lichen sexual fecundity. The reliability of the relationship between size and apothecia production among different environments has not been studied. We measured apothecia development and thallus area in populations of the lichenized fungi Xanthoparmelia cumberlandia and Xanthoparmelia coloradoënsis. Our data suggest that while size is a significant predictor of apothecia production, the relationship between size and apothecia production is not consistent among various environments, nor does size adequately explain variation in apothecia production.

Three common moss species (Bryum argenteum, Ceratodon purpureus and Syntrichia ruralis) were grown from fragmented gametophyte leaves and stems in a set of laboratory experiments. Ceratodon growth was the most prolific of the three species on three artificial media and varied dependent on nutrient solution. Ceratodon growth was also the most prolific on natural soils of the Snake River Plain, Idaho. However, Bryum growth was nearly equal that of Ceratodon on some soils but the growth of the two varied by soil type. Syntrichia growth by cover on natural soils was low but consistent across the three soil types. Results of these experiments support the possibility of using these organisms in restoration of sagebrush/bunchgrass habitats.

The role of propagule availability in determining community composition is poorly understood, and is infrequently investigated for bryophytes. In addition the extent to which spore availability is limited by dispersal is unknown. If spore availability is not dispersal-limited, local and regional spore dispersal and wind availability may affect spore availability at any point. In this study, the abundance of Sphagnum spores was investigated within the context of a successional sequence where Sphagnum spp. invade a feather moss community in black spruce boreal forests of northwestern Québec, Canada. Spores were trapped and grown in a greenhouse to protonemal stage to estimate the abundance of spores within three sites that varied in Sphagnum abundance, and stand density (a surrogate for wind intensity). Sporophyte production was also investigated in one site where individual Sphagnum colonies could be distinguished. Spores were less abundant in sites with less ground cover of Sphagnum present in the community, although spores were trapped in all sites. Spore abundance was inversely correlated with local stand density, indicating that wind intensity may play a role in limiting dispersal. Sporophytes were produced in colonies that were larger and had greater access to light. These results suggest that Sphagnum invasion into young dense forests may be partially limited by spore dispersal, although the availability of germination substrates may also play an important role.

Dermatocarpon tomentulosum is newly described from North America and the Bahama Islands. This species is characterized by a lower cortex which bears a tomentum of moniliform hyphae. It is closely related to D. moulinsii and D. schaechtelinii, but differs from both in bearing delicate, linear hyphae on the lower surface of the thallus, and not rhizinomorphs.

Caloplaca peregrina Samp., a species described from Portugal in 1917, and only known from the type localities, is synonymized with Caloplaca pellodella (Nyl.) Hasse.

A new Orthotrichum species, O. anodon F. Lara, Garilleti & Mazimpaka, is described. The new taxon is included in subgenus Pulchella (Schimp.) Vitt, and is characterised by its immersed, cylindrical capsules, with eight short exothecial bands that constrict the capsule mouth when dry; the lack of exostome teeth; the endostome having 16 hyaline and papillose segments; and the leaves lingulate to ovate lanceolate, with obtuse apices. Its distinction from and relationships with similar species within the genus, are discussed.

The work reported here addresses two primary questions: (1) How much “moss” (a mixture of mosses and liverworts) is harvested commercially from forests in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) and Appalachian regions of the U.S.? (2) What is the commercial value of this nontimber forest product? Methods included surveying land managers, botanists and moss dealers, querying U.S. government databases, and interviewing people involved in the moss trade. Approximately 35% of land manager respondents issued permits for moss harvest in the last five years. These reported that permits were issued for an average of 4,009 (Appalachian) and 96,433 (PNW) air-dry kg/yr of moss over the years 1997–2002, with a maximum reported permitted harvest of 166,793 air-dry kg across both regions in the year 2000. Official U.S. Forest Service sources listed the maximum yearly reported harvest for these regions as 115,661 air-dry kg in 2000 (PNW = 71,534 kg and Appalachians = 44,127 kg) and official Bureau of Land Management sources for OR and WA listed the maximum permitted harvest as 54,978 air-dry kg in 2001. Yearly revenues from sales of commercial moss harvest permits were reported to be ≤ US$19,650. In contrast, estimates of total harvests based on export data and assumptions about those data suggest that the mean yearly harvest for the years 1998–2003 was between 4.6 and 18.4 million air-dry kg (yearly minimum and maximum estimated at 0.9 and 37.4 million air-dry kg, respectively). Moss sales (domestic plus exports) are estimated to total between US$˜6 million and 165 million per year. The wide ranges in these estimates illustrate how little is known about the moss harvest trade. In combination with lack of information about the size of the moss inventory, reaccumulation rates, and species and ecosystem functions potentially affected by harvest, results indicate that policy makers and land managers lack critical information on which to base harvest regulations.

The formation of specialized vegetative propagules like brood cells, gemmae and bulbils often occurs in bryophytes, and the propagule's capacity to remain viable, even when desiccated, contribute to form soil propagule banks. With the aim to prove the presence of vegetative propagules in Splachnum ampullaceum Hedw., never found in European Splachnaceae, we studied their formation and further development in vitro. The effect of different concentrations of abscisic acid (ABA)—an endogenous growth regulator in mosses—on brood cell germination was also examined. Vegetative forms were induced on protonematal explants of S. ampullaceum cultured in vitro with two different mineral media. Brood cells and chloronematal bulbils occurred on protonematal cultures maintained on the same culture medium for long periods of time. Brood cells developed new chloronematal filaments when they were transferred to a new medium. We found that S. ampullaceum is able to form in vitro brood cells, characterized by spherical thick-walled cells with lipid droplets in their cytoplasm, and chloronematal bulbils that consist of a multicellular propagule with a verrucose surface. The effects of ABA on S. ampullaceum cultured in vitro indicate a direct relationship between its concentration on media and brood cell formation, which may presumably indicate that desiccation tolerance in S. ampullaceum is induced by ABA. Growth retardant effects were also shown on explants cultured in the presence of the aforementioned regulator. Vegetative propagules, brood cells and chloronematal bulbils, are present in S. ampullaceum and they are probably developed as a desiccation tolerance strategy and as a faster way to spread the colonization on the substratum. Such structures constitute an inconspicuous phase of the life cycle.

This work investigates the phylogenetic relationships within Grimmia Hedw. using 33 species of Grimmia and ten outgroup species from the Funariidae and the Dicranidae using a combination of two molecular markers and 52 morphological and anatomical characters. Plastid (trnL-trnF and rps4) DNA sequences were used to reconstruct the molecular phylogeny of Grimmia. The 33 chosen Grimmia species represented the majority of those found in Europe and Asia. An analysis using rps4 and trnL-trnF with six outgroup species supported the monophyly of the Grimmiaceae. The combined analysis of both plastid markers and morphological characters also resolved the Grimmiaceae as monophyletic. The results indicate that Grimmia, as currently defined, is paraphyletic. Two main clades were present, one that contained the species traditionally placed in the subgenus Rhabdogrimmia Limpr. and one that contained the remaining Grimmia species.

Syntrichia ammonsiana is newly recorded for South America from Peru. Previously, this species was known only from North America and southern Africa. The principal distinctive characters that separate it from the three nearest species, S. chisosa, S. costesii and S. laevipila, are discussed.

Didymodon eckeliae R. H. Zander, a presumed endemic species from California, is reported outside America for the first time, from Spain. A map of the currently known distribution, and a description and drawings of the Spanish specimen are provided.

Plagiochila (sect. Arrectae) punctata, previously known from the Neotropics, Africa and Europe, has been collected on a sandstone cliff in a rockhouse type environment in Tennessee, new to North America. Maximum likelihood analyses based on nrITS1–5.8S-ITS2 sequences of several species of Plagiochila sect. Arrectae resolve the Tennessee specimen in a robust P. punctata subclade with accessions from Ecuador and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A large-scale metabolic screen was performed for 51,180 targeted knockout mutants of the haploid moss Physcomitrella patens (Hedw.) Bruch & Schimp. The growth ability of each mutant was compared to the wild type. Plants were cultured on a minimal medium which contained only macroelements, as well as on a supplemented medium, additionally containing microelements, glucose, vitamins, ammonium tartrate, adenine, peptone and Na-palmitic acid. The screen resulted in the identification of 20 (0.04 %) auxotrophs. Medium supplementation tests were performed for five auxotrophs, which showed no growth on minimal medium, but were rescued on supplemented medium. One vitamin-deficient mutant was identified as p-aminobenzoic acid auxotroph, three plants were nitrate assimilation deficient mutants and one transformant showed undefined growth requirements. The screen resulted further in the identification of two physiological mutants, exhibiting an albino phenotype on minimal medium but a green wild type phenotype on the supplemented medium. The culture of both albinos under low light intensities could not prevent bleaching, revealing that the missing production of chlorophyll was not caused by light sensitivity. Astonishingly, the supplementation of the minimal medium with selected compounds of the supplemented medium did also not prevent bleaching. Moreover, both mutants produced green protonemata, even if single substances of the supplemented medium were lacking. It was concluded that a complex network of interactions related to photosynthesis in Physcomitrella was disturbed. This is the first detailed study of auxotrophic and albino Physcomitrella mutants produced by transformation-mediated gene disruption. The described physiological mutants provide valuable resources for the identification of essential gene functions of plant metabolism.

A novel protocol for the rapid extraction of bryophyte DNA is presented and tested on nine mosses and one liverwort. Amplification products and sequences of the rps4 gene were obtained for all the samples tested. Direct amplification and sequencing of DNA from a single dwarf male was found to be possible. By adding single dwarf males of Dicranum scoparium directly to a PCR, amplification products of the ITS regions were obtained for nine of the 11 dwarf males tested. To obtain different gene sequences from a single dwarf male, individual dwarf males were incubated in buffer at 60°C for different time periods and the resulting suspensions used for amplification of the chloroplast regions trnG and trnL-F. Amplification products of the trnG region were obtained for all the samples, but amplification of the trnL-F region was less successful. Clean DNA sequences were obtained from all the amplification products that were used in bi-directional sequencing. The rapid method presented has the potential to be a useful tool for screening high numbers of plants for specific genomic markers, such as in DNA barcoding. Direct amplification of DNA provides the opportunity for the first time to study genetic variation among moss dwarf males.

Gilbert, Oliver. 2004. The Lichen Hunters. x 208 pages, 2 black-and-white and 35 color photographs on 16 plates, 1 site map, 2 small ink drawings. 16 × 24 cm, hardcover in gold-stamped navy cloth, with color dust jacket. The Book Guild Ltd., Sussex, England. [ISBN 1–85776–930–9]. £16.95 postage. Available from The Book Guild, Temple House, 25 High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 2LU, England, U.K. (info@bookguild.co.uk).

Müller, Frank. 2004. Verbreitungsatlas der Moose Sachsens. 309 pages, with 82 color photographs and 719 maps (717 in color). lutra Verlags- und Vertriebsgesellschaft b.R., Tauer, Germany. [ISBN: 3–936412–02–2]. € 22 postage, if ordered directly from the editor: Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz, Wilsdruffer Straße 11/13, D-01067, Dresden, Germany. lv-saechsischer-heimatschutz@t-online.de.