Sphaerocarpos texanus
species of plant
Sphaerocarpos texanus, the Texas balloonwort, is a species of liverwort in the Sphaerocarpaceae family, found in the Americas, northern Africa and Europe.
Description
Sphaerocarpos texanus are small, thalloid, dioecious liverworts. The species is sexually dimorphic, with male plants usually 3–5 mm in diameter, females up to 12 mm in diameter. Both male (bearing antheridia) and female (bearing archegonia) plants are bright green, with the thallus branching up to several times. The plant is a winter annual, appearing in autumn and dying in spring. Notably, the spores occur in sets of four, called tetrads. Unlike most other species of liverwort, the spores stay in these tetrads until they germinate.
Habitat
The plant is found on flat, lightly shaded soil. Usually by roadsides.
Distribution
Sphaerocarpos texanus has a wide range, probably the widest of any species in its genus.
“Sphaerocarpos texanus” enters the record as species of plant. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Sphaerocarpos, texanus and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q7576519. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sphaerocarpos texanus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.