Sphenolobopsis pearsonii (Sphenolobopsis pearsonii)
Description
Although it looks like a Cephaloziella, this species is surprisingly easy to recognize with a -20 hand lens. It forms intricately interwoven patches of slender (less than 0.5 mm wide), brown or almost black shoots on vertical rock. Its bilobed leaves are up to 0.25 mm long, set across the stem, are very deeply divided and have very acute tips: a more extreme leaf shape than Cephaloziella divaricata, the only member of that genus that grows on dry rock faces. The diagnostic Y-shaped branches at the end of the shoots can usually be detected in the field.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Hepaticophyta
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Class: Jungermanniopsida
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Order: Jungermanniales
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Family: Anastrophyllaceae
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Genus: Sphenolobopsis
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