Bryophyte and Pteridophyte Distribution Records of Southern Arkansas

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science Volume 48 Article 46 1994 Bryophyte and Pteridophyte Distribution Records of Southern Arkansas James R. Bray Henderson State University Greg A. Whitehead Henderson State University Daniel L. Marsh Henderson State University Dennis W. McMasters Henderson State University Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas Part of the Plant Biology Commons Recommended Citation Bray, James R.; Whitehead, Greg A.; Marsh, Daniel L.; and McMasters, Dennis W. (1994) "Bryophyte and Pteridophyte Distribution Records of Southern Arkansas," Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 48 , Article 46. Available at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol48/iss1/46 This article is available for use under the Creative Commons license: Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0). Users are able to read, download, copy, print, distribute, search, link to the full texts of these articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This General Note is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact , . Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 48 [1994], Art. 46 Bryophyte and Pteridophyte Distribution Records of Southern Arkansas James R. Bray, Greg A. Whitehead, Daniel L.Marsh and Dennis W. McMasters Department of Biology Henderson State University Arkadelphia, AR 71999-0001 Winfred D. Crank 328 Houston Drive Hot Springs, AR 71913 This note catalogs distributional records for 22 species of hepatics and pteridophytes in southern Arkansas. We hope inclusion of four hepatics may stimulate more interest in the bryophytes of Arkansas. We wish either to initiate or contribute to the eventual preparation of an atlas and annotated list of the bryophytes of Arkansas in a format similar to that which Smith (1988) published for the vascular plants, an also to compile a photographic collection of the bryophytes to supplement the pteridophyte photographic collection compiled earlier by Crank. Trichocolea tomentella (Ehrh.) Dumort. is a strikingly leafy liverwort (Order Jungermanniales) often istaken for a delicate fern moss. Because of this appearce we use "mossy hepatic" as our English designation. Itis widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere, but restricted to wet, low-acid sites often along mountain earns. The only location in Arkansas given by Schuster )66) is at Camp Albert Pike in Montgomery Co. After idying that site, we located additional stands in >ntgomery Co. Bray later found a new location in Garland Co. and another extensive stand in Hot Spring Co. We expect to find sites in other counties of the Interior Highland. Another leafy liverwort which can form conspicuous afci Scapania is nemorosa (L.) Dumort., southern scapania :arpet hepatic." Itis widely distributed in the eastern of North America and in Europe from 30-55° N. latiSchuster (1974) includes Arkansas and the adjacent s in the range, but gives no specific sites in Arkansas, highly polymorphic species tolerates broad ranges of , moisture, and soils, and it is likely to be found ighout the state. It forms extensive carpets in a city in Arkadelphia and in a nearby cemetery (Clark Marsh has collected it from DeGray Lake State Park Spring Co.) and from the Ouachita National Forest i of Aplin in Perry Co. In addition we have student ctions from Camp Albert Pike in Montgomery Co. Neddie's Eye Mountain in Hot Spring Co. of our most common ribbon-mosses (Order zgeriales) is Pallavicinia lyellii(Hook.) Carruthers, :h we usually call "winged liverwort" because the thalli clearly differentiated into a midrib and lateral wings :h are only one cell layer thick. Itis common in bogs Rautiful I | . IDne and on wet creek banks in our area. Schuster (1992) lists sites in 19 counties of Arkansas: Baxter, Conway, Cross, Franklin, Garland, Greene, Hempstead, Lafayette, Little River, Miller,Montgomery, Nevada, Newton, Polk, Pulaski, Saline, Stone, Union, and Van Buren. We have documented additional sites in Clark, Ouachita, and Pike counties. The only member of the bottle hepatics (Order Sphaerocarpales) which we have found in Arkansas is Sphaerocarpos texanus Aust., which we call "Texas bottlewort." Itis notable for the bottle-shaped involucres covering the sex organs and for being the first plant in which sex chromosomes were discovered. Schuster (1992) lists it for nine counties of Arkansas: Benton, Calhoun, Conway, Faulkner, Hempstead, Lafayette, Polk, Pulaski, and Washington. The new locations are in Clark, Dallas, Hot Spring, and Ouachita counties (the last was found by Michael Shepherd). Although it can be found on a wide variety of bare soils, it is undoubtedly much overlooked because of its small size and short growing season in cool weather. In the fall of 1992 McMasters found a single shoot of the whisk-fern, Psilotum nudum (L.) Beauv., at the base of a retaining wall while cleaning out a dense growth of English ivy in the yard of his home in Arkadelphia. The aerial portion died during the late winter of 1993, possibly because it was no longer protected by the vine. This occurrence is documented by photographs but not by an herbarium collection. Presumably there was at least one gametophyte present in the soil,but the sporophyte could have developed apogamously. The nearest cultivated Psilotum is less than a mile from this site at the greenhouse on the Henderson State University campus. Several potted Psilotum plants there produce abundant spores, and young plants are found from time to time as weeds in pots containing other species. At present we regard this occurrence as a waif,but we suggest that botanists should be alert to the possibility that this species may occur as an escape. A stand of Psilotum was reported near Ruston, Louisiana (Rhodes, 1970) only 35 miles south of Arkansas within a forested area. Thieret (1980) indicates the species in both Lincoln and Ouachita parishes in northern Louisiana. In the case of occurrences under heavy Proceedings Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 48, 1994 239 Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 1994 239 Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 48 [1994], Art. 46 cover, as at Arkadelphia, the species could be easily overlooked. Lycopodiella prostrate (Harper) Cranfill, creeping foxtail club-moss, was first reported in Arkansas by Peck et al. (1987) who discovered it in Calhoun Co. Later it was reported in Saline Co. by Bray and Marsh (1993). We have now located itin Clark Co. associated with L.appressa. Selaginella eclipes Buck, Buck's meadow spikemoss, is shown only for northern counties in Taylor (1984) and Smith (1988). An extension to Montgomery Co. in southern Arkansas was reported by Bates (1993). We have found the species (...truncated)