Guide to Liverworts of Oregon: Solenostoma rubrum (Gott. ex Underw.) R.M. Schuster
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Synonyms: Jungermannia rubra Gott. ex. Underw.; Solenostoma rubrum subsp. underwoodii Bakalin
Misapplied: Metasolenostoma orientale Bakalin et Vilnet. Halse 5804, cited as a paratype by Bakalin (Bakalin, V.A., A. Vilnet, T. Furuki, & T. Katagiri 2014) using collection date (22 April 2000) instead of collection number (OSC), is illustrated below.
Two other specimens cited as paratypes of Metasolenostoma orientale are referred to Solenostoma fusiforme (Brinda 2836) or Jungermannia atrovirens (Wagner 1159), also illustrated by photomicrographs.
Special Status: None.
Recognition: Terrestrial plants with entire, round leaves and no underleaves. The leaf margin is usually bordered with a row of differentiated cells. This character is not always clear because some specimens have poorly differentiated marginal cells that are not enlarged have a thin outer cell wall. The perianth is prominent, extending more than half its length beyond the bracts and strongly plicate. Both leaves and perianth are typically tinged with a bright red.
Distribution: Terrestrial, on mineral soil, particularly abundant on road cuts and trail sides. Sometimes on rocks next to running water. Common in western Oregon at lower elevations. Endemic to western North America.
Comments: I still key this under Jungermannia in a broad sense, because it allows better chance of identifying sterile material. The name currently recommended by Stotler and Crandall-Stotler (2017) is Solenostoma rubrum, which is also used in the draft treatment in the Flora of North America vol. 29
This species often grows on the bed of trails where it survives rather heavy trampling. The reddish patches are a clue to its presence from a considerable distance. It often grows with Gyrothyra underwoodiana, which has a similar appearance, even has a similar reddish coloration, but is about twice as big.
Previous versions of these keys had included photomicrographs of leaves with large, glistening oil bodies and bulging trigones in a specimen from sandy soil along the Oregon Coast. In 2020 I thought they must have come from scattered shoots of Nardia scalaris that had been mixed in with J. rubra. A border of similarly differentiated marginal cells is found in Nardia scalaris, which is distinguished by "glistening oilbodies". I removed those leaf images from this page when I revisited the site and found additional material of Nardia scalaris, with underleaves and glistening oil bodies, mixed in small quantities with typical Jungermannia rubra. The correctly identified material can be seen on that page, Nardia scalaris
Jungermannia rubra - Habit, in situ, mixed with Diplophyllum obtsifolium. McKenzie River, Lane Co., Oregon. DHW m3135.
Jungermannia rubra Juvenile shoot. Yachats, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW 7761
Jungermannia rubra - Perianth, dorsal aspect.Coast at Tillicum Beach, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW m3155.
Jungermannia rubra - Perianth, ventral aspect. Coast at Tillicum Beach, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW m3155.
Jungermannia rubra - Perianth with young sporophyte. Coast at Tillicum Beach, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW m3155.
Jungermannia rubra - Male shoot (androecium). Coast at Tillicum Beach, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW m3155.
Jungermannia rubra - Male shoot (androecium). Coast at Tillicum Beach, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW m3155.
Jungermannia rubra - Female bract. Coast at Tillicum Beach, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW m3155.
Jungermannia rubra - Sterile shoot,ventral. Coast at Tillicum Beach, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW m3155.
Jungermannia rubra - Sterile shoot,lateral aspect. Near Seal Rock, Lincoln Co., Oregon. Halse 5804 (OSC).
Jungermannia rubra - Sterile shoot,lateral aspect. Near Seal Rock, Lincoln Co., Oregon. Halse 5804 (OSC).
Jungermannia rubra - Sterile shoot,lateral aspect. Near Seal Rock, Lincoln Co., Oregon. Halse 5804 (OSC).
Jungermannia rubra - Midleaf cells. Coast at Tillicum Beach, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW m3155.
Jungermannia rubra - Midleaf cells. Coast at Tillicum Beach, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW m3155.
Jungermannia rubra - Midleaf cells. Coast at Tillicum Beach, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW m3155.
Jungermannia rubra - Marginal cells. Coast at Tillicum Beach, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW m3155.
Jungermannia rubra - Marginal cells. McKenzie River, Lane Co., Oregon. DHW m3135.
Jungermannia rubra - Habit, in situ. Yachats, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW m2808
Jungermannia rubra - Habit, in situ. Yachats, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW m2808
Jungermannia rubra - Habit, in situ. Yachats, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW m2808
Jungermannia rubra - Perianth with tear from capsule emerging through small mouth. Yachats, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW m2808
Fertile shoot; seta extended only about 1/4 of full length. Yachats, Lincoln Co., Oregon. DHW m2808