Guide to Liverworts of Oregon: Schistochilopsis opacifolia (Culm.) Konstantinova
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Lophozia 1a oil bodies more than 15 per cell > Lophozia 2b underleaves absent > Lophozia 3b gemmae angular > Lophozia 4b leaf base mostly 2-3 stratose > Lophozia opacifolia
Synonym: Lophozia opacifolia Culm.; Schistochilopsis incisa var. opacifolia (Culmann) Bakalin
Special Status: None.
Recognition: A terrestrial species growing in tight mats, the shoots pale green to whitish, the stems thick and fleshy, the leaves thick at the base and 2-3 lobed.
Distribution: On peaty soil, sometimes forming large mats. Frequent at high elevations in the Cascades, absent from low elevations.
Comments: Lophozia incisa is the species characteristic of large rotting logs in low to middle elevation forests. Lophozia opacifolia is restricted to the subalpine zone, where it is abundant in open forests, under shrubs, and on the banks of rivulets in meadows. Here it may be a major component of the cryptogamic crust of open, well stabilized substrates. In both Sotler and Crandall-Stotler (2017) and the provisional treatment of the Bryophyte Flora of North America this species is treated as Schistochilopsis incisa var. opacifolia.