Solmsiella biseriata

Plants irregularly branched, usually in loose mats. Dorsal leaves ± asymmetric, oblong-ovate to elliptic, rounded, 0.45-0.65 mm. Ventral leaves smaller, ± symmetric, ± ligulate, rounded, 0.25-0.45 mm; laminal cells thin- to firm-walled, thickened and brown with age, 10-16 × 8-13 µm, oblate-hexagonal in numerous basal, marginal rows. Perichaetial leaves ovate, obtuse to rounded. Seta 0.6-0.8 mm. Capsule 0.55-0.85 mm, pale yellow; annuli a single row of quadrate cells; peristome absent; opercula conic, obliquly apiculate to rostellate. Calyptra 0.5 mm. Spores finely papillose, 21-31 µm.

Dry areas, bark of trees and rocks; low to moderate elevations; Fla., Ga., La.; Mexico (San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas); West Indies (Cuba, Dominican Republic); Central America (Guatemala); South America (Brazil, Paraguay, Venezuela); Asia; Africa; Australia.

Solmsiella biseriata is known from Jefferson County in Florida, Richmond County in Georgia and Iberia Parish in Louisiana.

A. Touw (1992) noted that Malesian collections came from man-made habitats; similar habitats in the Americas should be carefully examined. Solmsiella biseriata, to the casual observer or the uninitiated, can be mistaken for a small leafy liverwort, as reflected in the genus of the basionym. However, its dimorphic leaves, arranged in 4 rows, and cucullate calyptra will distinguish it from Erpodium domingense, which has more or less monomorphic leaves arranged in several rows and mitrate calyptra.