Fabroniaceae is a family of

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

es belonging to the order

Hypnales Hypnales is the botanical name of an order of Bryophyta or leafy mosses. This group is sometimes called feather mosses, referring to their freely branched stems. The order includes more than 40 families and more than 4,000 species, making them ...

. It has a worldwide distribution, in temperate and tropical regions. The Fabroniaceae were established by Schimper (in 1855) to accommodate three genera: ''Fabronia'' , ''Anacamptodon'' and ''Anisodon'' .(= '' Clasmatodon'' ). Only ''Fabronia'' is still considered a member of the family (Buck & Goffinet 2000; Goffinet & Buck 2004; Goffinet et al.2009). The Fabroniaceae are well represented in the tropics with few species occurring in the North Temperate Zone. They are polyphyletic. Such as ''Merrilliobryum'' being found in Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea.

Description

They are tropical mosses that grow on tree trunks and have erect branches and exserted capsules with the operculum (a cap-like structure) beaked. The

gametophyte A gametophyte () is one of the two alternation of generations, alternating multicellular organism, multicellular phases in the life cycles of plants and algae. It is a haploid multicellular organism that develops from a haploid spore that has on ...

, is

pleurocarpous The Bryopsida constitute the largest class of mosses, containing 95% of all moss species. It consists of approximately 11,500 species, common throughout the whole world. The group is distinguished by having spore capsules with teeth that are '' ...

(side-fruited), forming patches, or growing through other

Bryophytes The Bryophyta s.l. are a proposed taxonomic division containing three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. Bryophyta s.s. consists of the mosses only. They are characteristically limited i ...

. It has primary stems that are procumbent (and homomallous or uniformly bending). The leaves of main stems and branches are similar in form. The leaves are nerveless, or single-nerved. The leaf blade margins are flat; unistratose (single layer of cells) and finely crenulate or entire. The walls of basal leaf cells are thick and straight. They are

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

Genera

As accepted by

GBIF The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the Internet using web services. The data are provided by many institutions from around the ...

Figures in brackets are how many species per genus It includes 'Silky Urn Moss' or '' Fabronia pusilla''. Paulo E. A. S. Câmara and William R. Buck in 2012 carried out a phylogenetic study of ''Fabroniaceae'', they state that the genus ''Levierella'' should be nested within the ''

Entodontaceae Entodontaceae is a family of mosses belonging to the order Hypnales. Genera As accepted by GBIF The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity availa ...

'' family, with ''Dimerodontium'' among taxa traditionally associated with the ''

Leskeaceae Leskeaceae is a family of mosses belonging to the order Hypnales. Genera As recognised by World Flora Online (2022); * '' Bryonorrisia'' L.R.Stark & W.R.Buck (2 species) * '' Chileobryon'' Enroth (1 species) * '' Duthiella'' (18 species) * '' Fa ...

'' family.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17276631 Hypnales Moss families