Land of wood and water: A checklist of liverworts and hornworts of Jamaica

Abstract

The first ever liverwort and hornwort checklist is provided for Jamaica. We report 332 taxa in 314 species, 14 of which are invalid, illegitimate or in orphaned genera but we do not know where to place them. An additional 16 of the reported taxa are rejected as erroneously reported from Jamaica. The list is based on over 270 literature references, including monographs, regional studies, and molecular investigations. Except for a few early works in the 18th and early 19th century, and a scattering of other studies, the liverwort and hornwort flora of Jamaica has received negligible attention, despite its apparent diversity. The knowledge of the liverwort and hornwort flora, both in Jamaica and regionally in the Caribbean, remains so poor it is too early to reliably comment about range-restricted or endemic species. We predict that a number of new records remain to be reported, based on regionally widespread species that have been recorded elsewhere. On the other hand, it is envisaged that a number of the taxa presented here maybe synonyms of other taxa as they are taxonomically insufficiently known. As a consequence, Anastrophyllum harrisanum Steph. is reduced to a new synonym of A. tubulosum (Nees) Grolle.