Plants small, in loose mats, dark green to yellowish or brownish. Stems irregularly branched; paraphyllia absent; rhizoids occasional on stem. Stem and branch leaves similar. Stem leaves crowded, imbricate when dry, wide-spreading to squarrose when moist, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, not plicate; margins plane, entire or faintly serrulate near apex; apex acute to short-acuminate, hair-point sometimes present; costa single, strong, ending below apex, straight to weakly flexuose; alar cells quadrate to short-rectangular; medial laminal cells oval, rounded, or rhombic, 1-papillose over lumen, walls thick. Specialized asexual reproduction sometimes present. Sexual condition autoicous; perichaetial leaves pale, erect, base sheathing, margins entire or finely toothed, apex long-acuminate, costa short. Seta 0.6–0.8 cm. Capsule erect, oblong-cylindric, symmetric or weakly curved; annulus sometimes present; operculum conic, blunt; peristome somewhat reduced; exostome teeth lanceolate, blunt, ± papillose, not striolate, external surface with low trabeculae at base; endostome basal membrane low, segments absent, cilia absent. Spores 18–24 µm, smooth to roughened.

Distribution

North America, n Mexico, Central America (Guatemala), Eurasia, Africa, Pacific Islands (New Zealand).

Discussion

Species ca. 18 (2 in the flora).

The temperate-tropical genus Lindbergia is distinguished from other members of Leskeaceae by leaves that are wide-spreading to squarrose when moist, short laminal cells, and more or less erect capsules with the endostome reduced to a low membrane. The pseudoparaphyllia are few and foliose, or absent; the leaves are more or less decurrent and concave; the seta is yellow-brown; the capsule is brownish and narrower at the mouth; the exostome teeth are yellow and connate at the base; and the endostome is finely papillose.

Selected References

Crum, H. A. 1956. Lindbergia in North America. Bryologist 59: 203–212.

Lower Taxa

Lindbergia brachyptera, Lindbergia mexicana

Key

1	Stems subjulaceous when dry, often curved; brood branches absent; costae broad, extending nearly to apex; medial laminal cells indistinctly 1-papillose.	Lindbergia mexicana
1	Stems not subjulaceous when dry, ± straight; brood branches often present; costae slender, 1/2 -2/3 leaf length; medial laminal cells bluntly 1-papillose.	Lindbergia brachyptera