Status: Native
Synonyms:
Anomodon toccoae Sull. & Lesq.
Herpetineuron toccoae does not look much like the usual Anomodontaceae other than the pleurocarpous habit.
The most obvious difference is the absence of papillae on the laminal cells. When dry, the stems are markedly curled. They straighten out with moisture. The cells themselves at high power look a bit like 8 or 12-dot dominoes laid side-to-side and end-to-end, in obvious groups of rows and columns. Attenuate (flagellate) branches are present as are spherical reddish-brown rhizoidal tubers. The acute leaf apex is coarsely toothed and the base is plicate and auriculate. H. toccoae was collected by R.D. Worthington at about 7000 feet elevation on igneous rock in the Black Range.
We are grateful to the herbarium (and especially Dina Clark and Erin Tripp) of the University of Colorado Boulder (COLO) for the loan of the specimen collected by R.D. Worthington in the Gila.
Please click on an image for a larger file.
Herpetineuron toccoae, collection by R.D. Worthington, Gila NF, Sierra Cty., Black Range, along North Percha Creek about 1-1.5 mi W of junction with FR157, 6500-7000 feet elevation, July 8, 1995, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard
Herpetineuron toccoae, dry stem, collection by R.D. Worthington, Gila NF, Sierra Cty., Black Range, along North Percha Creek about 1-1.5 mi W of junction with FR157, 6500-7000 feet elevation, July 8, 1995, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard
Herpetineuron toccoae, moistened stem, collection by R.D. Worthington, Gila NF, Sierra Cty., Black Range, along North Percha Creek about 1-1.5 mi W of junction with FR157, 6500-7000 feet elevation, July 8, 1995, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard
Herpetineuron toccoae, photomicrograph of leaf, collection by R.D. Worthington, Gila NF, Sierra Cty., Black Range, along North Percha Creek about 1-1.5 mi W of junction with FR157, 6500-7000 feet elevation, July 8, 1995, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard
Herpetineuron toccoae, photomicrograph of leaf, collection by R.D. Worthington, Gila NF, Sierra Cty., Black Range, along North Percha Creek about 1-1.5 mi W of junction with FR157, 6500-7000 feet elevation, July 8, 1995, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard
Herpetineuron toccoae, photomicrograph of leaf apex, collection by R.D. Worthington, Gila NF, Sierra Cty., Black Range, along North Percha Creek about 1-1.5 mi W of junction with FR157, 6500-7000 feet elevation, July 8, 1995, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard
Herpetineuron toccoae, photomicrograph of leaf base, collection by R.D. Worthington, Gila NF, Sierra Cty., Black Range, along North Percha Creek about 1-1.5 mi W of junction with FR157, 6500-7000 feet elevation, July 8, 1995, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard
Herpetineuron toccoae, photomicrograph of cells at leaf base, collection by R.D. Worthington, Gila NF, Sierra Cty., Black Range, along North Percha Creek about 1-1.5 mi W of junction with FR157, 6500-7000 feet elevation, July 8, 1995, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard
Herpetineuron toccoae, photomicrograph of mid-laminal cells, collection by R.D. Worthington, Gila NF, Sierra Cty., Black Range, along North Percha Creek about 1-1.5 mi W of junction with FR157, 6500-7000 feet elevation, July 8, 1995, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard
Herpetineuron toccoae, high power photomicrograph of leaf mid-laminal cells, collection by R.D. Worthington, Gila NF, Sierra Cty., Black Range, along North Percha Creek about 1-1.5 mi W of junction with FR157, 6500-7000 feet elevation, July 8, 1995, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard
Herpetineuron toccoae, photomicrograph of leaf cross section, collection by R.D. Worthington, Gila NF, Sierra Cty., Black Range, along North Percha Creek about 1-1.5 mi W of junction with FR157, 6500-7000 feet elevation, July 8, 1995, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard
Herpetineuron toccoae, photomicrograph of stem with attenuate branch and rhizoidal tubers, collection by R.D. Worthington, Gila NF, Sierra Cty., Black Range, along North Percha Creek about 1-1.5 mi W of junction with FR157, 6500-7000 feet elevation, July 8, 1995, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard
Herpetineuron toccoae, photomicrograph of rhizoidal tubers, collection by R.D. Worthington, Gila NF, Sierra Cty., Black Range, along North Percha Creek about 1-1.5 mi W of junction with FR157, 6500-7000 feet elevation, July 8, 1995, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard
Back to the Index