Phylogenetic analyses of the Hypnales usually show the same picture of poorly resolved trees with a large number of polyphyletic taxa and low support for the few reconstructed clades. One odd clade, however, consisting of three genera that are currently treated either within the Leskeaceae (Miyabea) or Neckeraceae (Homaliadelphus and Bissetia), was retrieved in a previously published phylogeny based on chloroplast rbcL. In order to elucidate the reliability of the observed Homaliadelphus - Miyabea - Bissetia -clade (HMB-clade) and to reveal its phylogenetic relationships a molecular study based on a representative set of hypnalean taxa was performed. Sequence data from all three genomes, namely the ITS1 and 2 (nuclear), the trnS-rps4-trnT-trnL-trnF cluster (plastid), the nad5 intron (mitochondrial), were analyzed. Although the phylogenetic reconstruction of the combined data set was not fully resolved regarding the backbone it clearly indicated the polyphyletic nature of various hypnalean families, such as the Leskeaceae, Hypnaceae, Hylocomiaceae, Neckeraceae, Leptodontaceae and Anomodontaceae with respect to the included taxa. In addition the results favor the inclusion of the Leptodontaceae and Thamnobryaceae in the Neckeraceae. The maximally supported HMB-clade consisting of the three genera Homaliadelphus (2–3 species), Miyabea (3 species) and Bissetia (1 species) is resolved sister to a so far unnamed clade comprising Taxiphyllum aomoriense, Glossadelphus ogatae and Leptopterigynandrum. The well-resolved and supported HMB-clade, here formally described as the Miyabeaceae, fam. nov. is additionally supported by morphological characters such as strongly incrassate, porose leaf cells, a relatively weak and diffuse costa and the presence of dwarf males. The latter are absent in the Neckeraceae and the Leskeaceae. It is essentially an East Asian family, with one species occurring in North America.

To better understand associations between epiphytes and old forests, lichens and bryophytes that grow on tree bark were quantified in relatively undisturbed stands of Acadia National Park (ACAD). Four plots were dominated by hardwoods and eight by spruce. To obtain data from upper boles, we climbed four maple trees per plot (eight plots) and four spruce trees per plot (four of the eight plots). We found 85 macrolichen species and 62 bryophyte taxa (60 species, two varieties). Eight macrolichens are newly documented from ACAD. At the state-level, Acadia NP plots were notably species-rich including 15 species not found in 50 other plots in Maine surveyed using the USDA FS Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (FIA) lichen protocol. At the plot-level, the epiphyte flora of spruce-dominated plots differed significantly from that of hardwood-dominated plots, although species richness was comparable. At the tree-level, the epiphyte flora of maple trees was significantly influenced by tree composition within the surrounding stand. Mixed composition of tree species in the stand correlated with higher epiphyte diversity. Cyanolichens were more likely to occur on large hardwood trees in hardwood-dominated plots. Fruticose lichen occurrence was influenced by interactions between tree size, plot and tree species. Using comprehensive tree tally searches in combination with climbing of four maples per plot, we found that we missed an average of 15% of the macrolichen flora in the search area using only the two-hour timed survey required by the FIA protocol. This study serves as an important baseline for detecting future changes in the epiphyte flora of ACAD and further highlights the importance of mature mixed stands to epiphyte conservation in northern forests of eastern North America.

Many epiphytes in Swedish beech forests are associated with old and damaged trees. In this study we examined the impact of bark, soil and stemflow pH, water-holding capacity and bark structures on this association. We also analyzed whether the influence of these factors differed between species of conservation concern (red-listed and indicator species of woodland key habitats) and species not of conservation concern. One hundred and one age-determined living beech trees (range 58–277 yrs) in 13 beech-dominated stands were surveyed in a forest landscape in southern Sweden. We recorded 119 species in total (76 lichens, 43 bryophytes) of which 21 were red-listed and 17 indicator species (26 lichens, 12 bryophytes). NMS ordination showed that the species composition of lichens changed primarily with tree age and along the gradient of smooth bark versus moss cover. Bark pH and tree vitality were the most important gradients for bryophyte composition. The combination of old damaged beech trees and high bark pH resulted in the highest mean number of species of conservation concern for both lichens and bryophytes. The link between these factors is partly explained by a positive effect of tree age on the stemflow pH. Species number of bryophytes not of conservation concern increased with bark pH, whereas the corresponding group of lichens was favored primarily by increased light availability. Neither the water-holding capacity of bark nor soil pH affected patterns of species number. The results from this study show that old beech trees infected by fungi, with a higher bark pH, are the most valuable trees for epiphytes of conservation concern.

Bryophyte communities are highly sensitive to moisture and/or humidity levels. Most studies on the subject focus on bryophytes on either tree or ground habitats and do not consider how bryophytes partition themselves across both ground and epiphytic substrates within the same forest. Sampling mesic temperate forest sites of the same physiognomy from two Tasmanian regions with slightly different moisture levels (a wetter northwest versus a drier northeast region), we examine various aspects of the community structure (overall liverwort and moss cover; species richness; and liverwort to moss ratios) of both tree and ground communities with respects to moisture availability. We then test the hypothesis that a wetter site will exhibit a greater magnitude of bryophytes inhabiting both tree and ground habitats. Results of the analyses show that the ground habitat in the northwest sites exhibited a significantly higher mean species richness, higher overall and mean liverwort to moss ratio, and a higher liverwort cover than the northeast sites. This suggests that the northwest had a more ameliorated ground microclimate than the northeast. In terms of habitat partitioning, a significantly higher percentage of taxa occupied both tree and ground habitats in the northwest, compared to the northeast, which exhibited a higher percentage of taxa restricted to trees. It is proposed that within a single vegetation type, a higher site moisture level may create microclimates conducive to more bryophyte species in both tree and ground habitats, especially the latter, thereby enabling taxa to colonize and coexist on both substrates more freely.

Stumps from the last felling constitute a large proportion of dead wood in young managed forests. Yet, the knowledge of the diversity of stump-inhabiting organisms is poor. We studied the importance of substrate age and quality to lichen and bryophyte diversity on the cut surface of stumps in south-central Sweden. In total, we found 53 lichens and 35 bryophytes on 449 Norway spruce stumps in a forest stand chronosequence of four age classes: 4–5, 8–9, 12–13 and 16–18 years old stands. The influence of substrate age and substrate quality on species diversity differed between lichens and bryophytes. Lichen species richness was higher for age classes 2–4 compared to age class 1, whereas bryophyte richness was higher in age classes 3–4 than in 1. Further, lichen richness increased with increasing stump height and the presence of surface structural components (chairs and levels), which together with decay also influenced lichen species composition. Conversely, increasing stump height and the presence of levels decreased bryophyte richness, which in turn increased with increasing decay, surface area and number of surrounding trees and shrubs. Only decay explained differences in bryophyte species composition. Stumps in this region seem more important to overall lichen diversity, because there were on average more lichen species per stump and we only found common bryophytes but several uncommon lichens. The different responses of lichens and bryophytes to age and substrate variables indicates, however, the importance of including several organism groups in species diversity studies of dead wood.

Ethnobryological notes on the liverwort Targionia hypophylla to cure scabies, itches and other skin diseases by the Irula tribes and the leafy liverwort Frullania ericoides for head lice (Pediculus humanus) and nourishment of hair by the Mudugar tribes of Attappady, Western Ghats, Kerala are reported for the first time along with a note on the little-known medicinal bryophyte Bryum bicolor mentioned in Rheede's Hortus Malabaricus published in the 17^th century.

Flakea papillata is a predominantly tropical, widespread lichen characterized by flake-like thalli of narrowly arranged, irregularly wrinkled, small bluish-green lobes, whose taxonomic position was unclear. The lichen shows superficial similarity with either algal colonies, bryophytes or fern prothallia, but the production of zeorin and other triterpenoids supports its inclusion in the ascomycetes. Analysis of the nuclear large and small subunits rRNA sequence data of samples from different origins supports the position of F. papillata within the Verrucariaceae: it forms its own supported clade not related to the core of Agonimia, in which it has been previously placed.

A new genus Puttea S. Stenroos & Huhtinen is described for the lichen species formerly known as Fellhanera margaritella (Hulting) Hafellner. The study was based on phylogenetic analyses of the mtSSU as well as on anatomical and ecological investigations. Puttea is characterized by its inconspicuous thallus, gelatinized exipulum of radiating hyphae, hemiamyloid asci of the Psora-type arising from croziers, non-septate spores and a crystalline layer covering the hymenium and excipulum. The currently monospecific genus grows almost exclusively on the liverwort Ptilidium pulcherrimum and has so far been reported from Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland. The taxonomic position of Puttea could not be reliably assessed but in the present analyses it appears, together with Lecidea hypopta, in a clade comprising the Sphaerophoraceae, Psoraceae, Ramalinaceae and Pilocarpaceae.

This paper reports the first detailed study of lichens on Sable Island since the pioneering study of John Macoun in 1899 who recorded 27 taxa in his publications. The present survey carried out in 2007, revealed that 39 macrolichens and 42 crusts now colonize sand, bone, lignum and cement substrata. The annotated checklist which includes current and former records contains 62 macrolichens and 46 crustose species plus seven lichen parasymbionts. Specimens have been deposited in the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, Halifax (nspm) and in the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa (canl). The changes in the lichen flora, and the possible reasons for them, that have occurred over the past 20 years and since the first survey in 1899, are discussed. Speculations on the future of the present lichen flora on Sable Island are also made.

Well-developed thalli of Erioderma mollissimum have been found on the island of Newfoundland. Previously reported collections from other areas of Atlantic Canada, and from high elevations in the southern Appalachians, were small and poorly developed. It had been suggested that these might represent a distinct, undescribed species. However, the morphology and chemistry of the collections reported here confirm the identity of the Newfoundland population as E. mollissimum.

A lichenicolous fungus, Stigmidium epistigmellum (Nyl. ex Vouaux) Kocourk. & K. Knudsen, is re-described from maritime Caloplaca species from the western coast of North America and compared with other Stigmidium species on Caloplaca hosts.

Globulinella halloyi is described from Volcán Socompa in Salta Province of Argentina. It is readily distinguished from congeners by the following combination of character states: robust plants, with costa dorsally and ventrally toothed and with two stereid bands in transverse section, and elongate propagula ca. 200 µm long. A description and ilustrations of the new species are provided. A table of morphological characters compares the three species of Globulinella.

During a revision of the genus Taxithelium, a new species was found from the island of Seram, Indonesia. The presence of collenchymatous exothecial cells, a resemblance to Radulina, but being a much smaller plant, lacking any papillae on the seta and having the alar cells much less developed and neither inflated nor colored associate it with Taxithelium. Multivartiate analyses support its infrageneric distinctiveness.

A new species of Homalothecium from California is described and illustrated. This species was first recognized as distinctive during analysis of a DNA investigation into members of Homalothecium and related genera. Homalothecium californicum sp. nov. is distinct in its frondose branching, patent to loosely erect leaves, size intermediate between the somewhat similar H. megaptilum and H. nevadense, and cylindrical, straight, and orthotropous capsules with basally reddened exostome teeth. Subsequent herbarium and field exploration determined this new species to be a rather common and widespread species in central and northern California within a mixed conifer-hardwood transition zone. Several herbarium collections of this new species were found previously determined as Homalothecium megaptilum, H. nevadense, H. fulgescens or H. aeneum.

The California endemic species described as Schiymenium shevockii A. J. Shaw is transferred to the genus Mielichhoferia because phylogenetic analyses have shown that peristome structure (exostomial versus endostomial) is not a reliable character for distinguishing these two genera.

Anomodon longifolius, a montane species known from Europe and eastern and southern Asia, was collected for the first time in the New World, from the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Also, Anomodon thraustus, an Asian species with known records from Mexico, has its range extended to the eastern United States. It is a very rare species in North America known only from a few specimens from New Jersey, New York and North Carolina that had been mistaken for depauperate forms of A. minor.

Ren-Liang Hu, of Shanghai, China, was born on 17 March 1932 and died on 3 January 2009. An account of his professional life is provided, along with a list of his publications.