Fossombronia husnotii
Fossombronia husnotii Corb.
Fossombroniaceae
Conservation status. Critically Endangered [CR B2ab(iii) c(ii)].
Morphology and biology. Annual, rarely short-lived perennial liverwort with differentiated stem and leaves, forming small pale to yellow brown rosettes or mats. Shoots prostrate, irregularly branched, 1.5 cm long and up to 0.3 cm wide, with numerous colourless or pale brown rhizoids. Leaves obliquely inserted, oval-quadrate, with characteristic wavy appearance. Bisexual. Spores large, with reticulate surface forming simple or dichotomously branched lamellae. Does not form gemmae.
Habitats and populations. Grows on bare soils among scrubs and grass tufts, beside roads and paths. The populations have restricted distribution, low density and variable numbers, related to the yearly dynamics of the climatic conditions.
Distribution in Bulgaria. Belasitsa Mt (above Petrich).
General distribution. Balkan Peninsula (Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, R Macedonia), W Europe, Italy, N and Tropical Africa. Oceanic Mediterranean species.
Threats. Lack of suitable permanent habitats due to cutting down of forests and successional changes in the vegetation. The species depends on the presence of competition-free substrates and recurrent moderate habitat disturbance.
Conservation measures taken. The population is in Belasitsa Nature Park and in a site of the European ecological network Natura 2000 in Bulgaria.
Conservation measures needed. To study the dynamics of numbers and areas of the populations, as well as the biology and ecology of the species in Bulgaria; to elucidate the threatening factors and monitor the populations.
References. Petrov 1963.
Author: Rayna Natcheva
