• Home
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions
  • Support
  • Projects
  • Home
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions
  • Support
  • Projects

archeology extinct tragedy european International Theatre lion rock what rock type is discovery wallaby climate change Bruny Island project challenge underground Cartography Derwent immigrant asia sea kayak Near Drowning viral bones eaglehawk neck

Support Us

Categories:
  • Bureau of Biodiversity Awareness
  • Issue Thirty Six
  • Magazine
  • Online

Almost a Flowering Plant: the Story of Gigaspermum repens

David Tng

August 31, 2015
Like 0
Categories:
  • Bureau of Biodiversity Awareness
  • Issue Thirty Six
  • Magazine
  • Online


Tags:
  • angiosperms
  • Botany
  • bryology
  • taxonomy



To the untrained eye it is possible to mistake certain flowering plants as mosses. Tasmania has a few examples, particularly some of the alpine bristleworts, which are small and turfed and even produce flowering stalks that superficially resemble moss capsules.

Much less likely is it for mosses to be mistaken as flowering plants, but yet, this was exactly what happened to a certain Australian moss by the name of Gigaspermum repens.

G. repens is a moss I had always wanted to see but Tasmania was not the best of places to be looking for it as it more typical of bare dry soils. This spring I was most fortunate to stumble on a small population near a rock outcrop on the summit of Mt Nelson.

The pale silvery quartz colour of the shoots were scarcely half a centimeter tall and reminded me of the ubiquitous Silver Moss (Bryum argenteum). Fortuitously, the plants I found were fertile, and in that state, there was absolutely no mistaking them. The fertile shoots were more than twice the size of the sterile ones and were, for lack of a better word, so pregnant.

Unlike most mosses which have capsules borne on a stalk held above the plant body, the capsules of G. repens were nestled among large modified leaves.

In this fertile state, plants are not dissimilar to minute flowers in bud. The capsule of Gigaspermum repens has a large operculum, or cap, which falls off when the capsules are ripe, leaving a great gaping mouth and exposing the characteristically large spores (hence ‘Gigaspermum‘ which means large seeds) that are just visible to the naked eye.

These large spores could be mistaken for seeds in a pyxidate capsule, a type of fruit in flowering plants like plantain (Plantago spp.) where the top falls off to release the seeds. The uniqueness of Gigaspermum has inspired bryologists erect a botanical family, the Gigaspermaceae, to accommodate it.

When the great 19th century plant collector Ferdinand von Mueller (1825-1896) found this plant, he allegedly thought it was a flowering plant belonging to the ice plant family (Aizoaceae) and named it Trianthema humillima.

Mueller was a first rate botanical collector and his incorrect description is no reflection of the lack of expertise on his part. Mueller was certainly aware of what mosses are. However, this episode does bear testimony to the morphological diversity that mosses can encompass, sans flowers.

Author profile
David Tng
Website

By day… I am a plant scientist. By night and in every other spare moment… I am a naturalist. I pursue and study a wide range of botany related topics ranging from plant photography, nature writing on blogs, building my plant Life List and volunteering as a demonstrator on how to use the online Australian Rainforest Key. Beyond the realm of the intellect…Underlying everything I do is an awareness of the mystical side of the botanical world. I aim to enhance the appreciation of plants with SCIENCE. I aim to infuse the study of plants with HEART. I aim to integrate the appreciation and the study with SPIRIT.


icon light bulb Flora FNQ


Related posts
  • David Tng
    https://tasmaniangeographic.com/author/david-tng/
    Nothofagus gunnii, the last Tasmanian deciduous tree (Photo by David Tng)
    August 1, 2013
    The Last Deciduous Tree in Tasmania
  • David Tng
    https://tasmaniangeographic.com/author/david-tng/
    September 15, 2013
    A Communion with the Miena Cider Gum
  • David Tng
    https://tasmaniangeographic.com/author/david-tng/
    February 15, 2014
    The Flowers We Forgot
  • David Tng
    https://tasmaniangeographic.com/author/david-tng/
    October 1, 2018
    A Meeting with the White Knights of Evercreech

Share this:

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)

Related

Would you be willing to help support the ongoing costs for publishing Tasmanian Geographic? 

 

As a special thank-you we’ll send you our special “36 Wonders of Tasmania” PDF map.

Every cent will help.

 Thanks in advance!

  • About Us
  • Contributors
  • Archives
  • The Fine Print
  • Professional Services
  • Giant Tree Expeditions
  • Support Us

The more you know, the less you need

Share it on your social network:

Or you can just copy and share this url

We send out issues by email containing fantastic images, words, video, and more. You'll love it.