Kiebacher, T. & E. Urmi. 2021. Cephaloziella aspericaulis Jørg. with sporophytes in Central Europe

Arctoa (2021) 30: 213–218

doi: 10.15298/arctoa.30.21

We present the first record of the rare liverwort species Cephaloziella aspericaulis in Central Europe. The population discovered in the Swiss Alps represents a disjunct location with respect to the nearest occurrences in Scandinavia and in the Caucasus and are the first record of sporophyte-bearing plants. The species differs from all other European taxa of the genus, except C. varians var. scabra, in the presence of cellular outgrowths on the stem that are also shared with the Asian/North American species C. spinicaulis and with C. mammillifera from Greenland. We provide information on how to distinguish C. aspericaulis from these and other similar taxa of the genus, especially C. divaricata, and illustrate the plants collected in the Alps. Since the genus Cephaloziella is notoriously undercollected and because similar habitats are widespread throughout the siliceous Central Alps it seems likely that further occurrences can be discovered in the region.