Isothecium myosuroides Brid.

Osman, Imen Ben, Hugonnot, Vincent, Muller, Serge D. & Daoud-Bouattour, Amina, 2022, New bryophytes for Tunisia (North Africa). Part 2: other families, Cryptogamie, Bryologie 20 (11), pp. 173-185 : 180

Isothecium myosuroides Brid.

SPECIMENS EXAMINED. — Tunisia. Kroumiria, Jendouba Governorate, Delegation of Fernana: Oued Zen, fertile with sporophytes, 36°48’43.08”N, 08°50’41.33”E, 394 m a.s.l. (site 2019-20), 04.IV.2019, Ben Osman & Hugonnot (TUN[TUN2019-289]); Delegation of Aïn Draham: El Mérij, with sporophytes, 36°44’55.03”N, 08°41’13.80”E, 599 m a.s.l. (site 2019-35), 05.IV.2019, Ben Osman & Hugonnot (TUN[TUN2019-290]); Aïn Draham surroundings, spring 1951, A. Labbe (MHLCLF, herbarium F. Jelenc, ex herbarium A. Labbe: Kj 10613, box 107).

REMARKS

Isothecium myosuroides was found growing in a riparian alder forest on soil, on the banks of a permanent wadi and on large earth-covered blocks, in Oued Zen and El Mérij, and on trees in a wet, deep valley with Ilex aquifolium L. and Blechnum spicant (L.) Sm., for the Jelenc herbarium specimen. In Western Europe, this species often occurs in forests and on woodland soils and rocks, the same ecological setting as in Tunisia. In Europe, it also grows in open habitats (grasslands) and screes ( Rothero & Blockeel 2014; IUCN 2019).

This moss is characterized by its dendroid habit and irregular branching: the primary stem is prostrate and the secondary is decumbent to erect. Its leaves are imbricate, ovate, ovate-oblong or cordate-triangular, with a long, narrow acumen. The margins are dentate from the base to the apex or only in the upper part, and its alar cells are shortly rectangular or rhomboidal.

Isothecium myosuroides is a sub-oceanic boreo-temperate species widespread in Europe including Macaronesia ( Hodgetts & Lockhart 2020), extending to North Africa ( Ros et al. 2013), Southwestern Asia ( Kürschner & Frey 2020) and North America (Bednarek-Ochyra et al. 1994).