Jungermannia caespiticia
Jungermannia caespiticia Lindenb.
Solenostoma caespiticium (Lindenb.) Steph.3
Jungermanniaceae
Conservation status. Critically Endangered [CR B2ab(iii)].
Morphology and biology. Perennial, leafy liverwort forming yellow-green mats. Shoots prostrate, to 2–3 cm long and 1.5.mm wide. Leaves obliquely inserted, almost round without border, entire, sometime notched at the tip. Leaf cells with a single large brown oil body. Unisexual, rarely with sporophytes. Forms numerous green unicellular gemmae clustered as characteristic spherical masses at the shoot tips.
Habitats and populations. Grows on wet, clayey to sandy soils in beech forests. The populations have restricted distribution and low density.
Distribution in Bulgaria. Balkan Range (Eastern – Kaynika locality by the town of Omurtag).
General distribution. Balkan Peninsula (Bulgaria, Romania), W and C Europe, North America and NE Asia. Northern sub-oceanic species.
Threats. The species is sensitive to the decrease of air and substrate humidity and habitat deterioration due to forestry activities (forest felling, road construction, etc.).
Conservation measures taken. None.
Conservation measures needed. To study the dynamics of numbers and area of the populations, as well as the biology and ecology of the species in Bulgaria; to elucidate the threat factors and monitor the populations.
References. Petrov 1963.
Author: Rayna Natcheva
