Pleurophascum grandiglobum

Pleurophascum grandiglobum is a moss endemic to Tasmania, Australia, and was first noted by S. O. Lindberg in 1875 for its peculiar form of cleistocarpous capsule, erect growth form, lateral perichaetia, and ecostate leaves. Its exceedingly large, inoperculate, and often brightly coloured capsules captured the heart of the 19th-century Scandinavian bryologist, who considered the moss to be "of no less interest to the Museologist than is Rafflesia or Welwitschia to the Phanerogamist". The species currently belongs to a monogeneric family Pleurophascaceae that is found only in temperate Australasia and includes three different species. Pleurophascum ovalifolium, heretofore known as P. grandiglobum var. decurrens, is the New Zealand taxon while the last remaining member of the genus, Pleurophascum occidentale, occurs only in Western Australia. The relationship between P. grandiglobum and P. ovalifolium has been puzzling botanists such as Sainsbury for more than 50 years, and it was not un......read more on Wikipedia.