Status: Native
Synonyms:
Mannia gracilis (F. Weber) D.B. Schill & D.G. Long
Asterella gracilis (F. Weber) Underw.
Mannia gracilis has thick, small thalli. The carpocephala are fringed with long, hyaline streamers. When dry, the thalli roll up into tight, black tubes. M. gracilis has bright yellow ridged spores. It has dark purple, triangular scales and scale appendages that are characteristically rather short and stocky (lanceolate) but can be attenuate.
Many thanks to the Duke University Herbarium and Blanka Aguero for loaning us this specimen for photography.
Please click on an image for a larger file.
Mannia gracilis, collection by Lewis B. Anderson (ID by Marie Hicks), Arizona, Maricopa County, near Burnt Corral, AZ 88, on gravelly soil in deep canyon, March 30, 1993; photo by Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, August 22, 2023
Mannia gracilis, rehydrated thallus, collection and ID by W.B. Schofield, Canada, British Columbia, Vancouver Island, summit of Malahat Hwy., on "dampish" earth on open outcrop, April 29, 1982; photo by Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, August 22, 2023
Mannia gracilis, dry thallus, collection and ID by W.B. Schofield, Canada, British Columbia, Vancouver Island, summit of Malahat Hwy., on "dampish" earth on open outcrop, April 29, 1982; photo by Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, August 22, 2023
Mannia gracilis, rehydrated thallus, collection by Lewis B. Anderson (ID by Marie Hicks), Arizona, Maricopa County, near Burnt Corral, AZ 88, on gravelly soil in deep canyon, March 30, 1993; photo by Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, August 22, 2023
Mannia gracilis, undersurface of rehydrated thallus, collection by Lewis B. Anderson (ID by Marie Hicks), Arizona, Maricopa County, near Burnt Corral, AZ 88, on gravelly soil in deep canyon, March 30, 1993; photo by Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, August 22, 2023
Mannia gracilis, photomicrograph of carpocephalum, collection and ID by W.B. Schofield, Canada, British Columbia, Vancouver Island, summit of Malahat Hwy., on "dampish" earth on open outcrop, April 29, 1982; photo by Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, August 22, 2023
Mannia gracilis, photomicrograph of carpocephalum opened to reveal yellow spores, collection and ID by W.B. Schofield, Canada, British Columbia, Vancouver Island, summit of Malahat Hwy., on "dampish" earth on open outcrop, April 29, 1982; photo by Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, August 22, 2023
Mannia gracilis, photomicrograph of scale with appendage, collection and ID by W.B. Schofield, Canada, British Columbia, Vancouver Island, summit of Malahat Hwy., on "dampish" earth on open outcrop, April 29, 1982; photo by Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, August 22, 2023
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