Plagiochila
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Plagiochila | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Plagiochila asplenioides | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Marchantiophyta |
| Class: | Jungermanniopsida |
| Order: | Lepidoziales |
| Family: | Plagiochilaceae |
| Genus: | Plagiochila (Dumort.) Dumort., 1835 nom. cons. |
| Species | |
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See text | |
| Synonyms | |
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Plagiochila is a large, common, and widespread genus of liverworts in the order Jungermanniales.[1] It is a member of the family Plagiochilaceae within that order. There may be anywhere from 500 to 1,300 species, most of them from the tropics; the exact number is still under revision.
The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica.[2]
There are nine species of Plagiochila in Britain and Ireland, the majority of which have a hyper-oceanic biogeography, demanding high humidity afforded by proximity to the Atlantic.[3] The most widespread representative of the hyper-oceanic species is Plagiochila spinulosa, a common species of Atlantic woodlands known as temperate rainforest. There is a disjunct population of Plagiochila spinulosa in New Zealand.[4]
