typification

Holotype: N.Z., on damp bank at side of road, Mauriceville, July 19 1910, W. Gray s.n., BM-Dixon 74! Isotype: NSW!

Beever, J.E. 2014: Fissidentaceae. In: Heenan, P.B.; Breitwieser, I.; Wilton, A.D. (ed.) Flora of New Zealand — Mosses. Fascicle 8. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln.

Etymology

The epithet anisophyllus, from anisos (unequal) + phyllon (leaf), refers to the “unequal leaves” on the shoot. Dixon (1912) in his protologue commented, with regard to this “rather interesting plant”, that “it is especially noteworthy for the inequality of the leaves, which gradually increase in size upwards, becoming at the same time narrower and more acute, giving a somewhat fan-shaped outline to the frond”. This is, however, a feature of many small species of Fissidens (e.g., F. curvatus and F. tenellus) in which fruiting plants exhibit a rapid transition up the stem from juvenile to perichaetial leaves.

Beever, J.E. 2014: Fissidentaceae. In: Heenan, P.B.; Breitwieser, I.; Wilton, A.D. (ed.) Flora of New Zealand — Mosses. Fascicle 8. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln.