Funariaceae

Abstract

Funariaceae is a family of mosses in the order of Funariales, containing approximately 303 species, belonging to about 13 different genera, often annual or biennial herbaceous. Plants are minute, usually dense tufts on humid, and with moist or wet habitats. Pseudo-roots are short and fine. Stems are short, erect, simple, and sometimes fascicled. Leaves are crowded distally and reduced proximally. They are autoicous and sometimes polygamous. Perigonia and perichaetia are terminal. Setae are terminal, solitary, and smooth. Capsules are stegocarpous or cleistocarpous and immersed or exserted. Calyptra are deciduous or persistent. Spores are spherical or subreniform. The Funariaceae is characterized by broad leaves; large, pale laminal cells; opposite peristomes; and the distinctive stomata. The majority of species are found in disturbed or open sites on bare soil. Only one species, Funaria hygrometrica Hedwig, belonging to Funaria genus, is illustrated in this chapter.