Plagiotheciopsis oblonga (Broth.) Broth.

  • Authority

    Buck, William R. 1987. Bryostephane Steereana: A Collection of Bryological Papers Presented to William Campbell Steere On The Occasion of His 80th Birthday. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 45: 1-749.

  • Family

    Hypnaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Plagiotheciopsis oblonga (Broth.) Broth.

  • Description

    Distribution and Ecology - Collections studied: PHILIPPINES. Mindanao: Davao, Weber 1479 (holotype of Plagiotheciopsis philippinensis Broth., H-BR); Mt. Kitanglad, near summit, Bukidnon Province, 25-27 May 1984, Tan, Navarez & Amoroso 84-392.

  • Discussion

    Plagiotheciopsis philippinensis Broth., Philipp. J. Sci. 8: 87. 1913, syn. nov.

    The genus was proposed by Brotherus in 1913 and characterized by him as "genus novum inter Plagiothecium et Vesicularium ponendum ab ambobus peristomii structura omnino diversum." Earlier, a New Guinean collection was described by him as Ectropothecium oblongum (Brothems, 1895). Dixon (1922) was first to observe the similarity of their peristomes and he subsequently made the transfer to Plagiotheciopsis oblonga. Although Buck (1980) maintained the two species apart on the basis of their differences in leaf morphology, I find both species variable in many of their vegetative characters, especially the branching habit and the outline of leaf apices. I studied the holotype of Ectropothecium oblongum at h-br and it proved identical to the Philippine material of Plagiotheciopsis philippinensis. Broadly defined, the species is characterized by complanate branches, lax leaf areolation, cluster of short cells at leaf apex, absence of a costa and, most importantly, by the peculiarly long peristome teeth projecting distally from the mouth of an elongate, erect, at times slightly inclined, capsule. The calyptra is cucullate.

    The conspecificity of these two taxa strengthens the New Guinean affinity of the moss flora of Mindanao Island.

  • Distribution

    Collections studied: PHILIPPINES. Mindanao: Davao, Weber 1479 (holotype of Plagiotheciopsis philippinensis Broth., H-BR); Mt. Kitanglad, near summit, Bukidnon Province, 25-27 May 1984, Tan, Navarez & Amoroso 84-392.

    Philippines Asia|