Polytrichum juniperinum Hedw.

  • Authority

    Sharp, Aaron J., et al. 1994. The Moss Flora of Mexico. Part Two: Orthotrichales to Polytrichales. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 69 (2)

  • Family

    Polytrichaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Polytrichum juniperinum Hedw.

  • Description

    Species Description - Medium-sized plants, in loose tufts. Stems simple, (2-4-5(-6) cm tall, densely leafy above, bracteate, often tomentose below. Leaf sheath oblong, yellowish, 2.5 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, the margin entire, hyaline in the upper part; limb subulate, ending in a rough, reddish awn, toothed at back in the upper part, 6-8 mm long, the marginal portion of the lamina broadly involute and overlapping in the upper part of the limb, entire to sermlate, the marginal cells obliquely oriented; lamellae bluntly dentate in profile, 6-8 cells high, with marginal cells in section ovate to pyriform, terminating in a distinct knob, smooth; sheath cells linear, 80-100 µm long, 7-10 µm wide, narrower toward the margin; cells of the marginal lamina greatly elongate transversely, 45-60 µm long, 10-13 µm wide. Dioicous. Perigonial leaves broad, in conspicuous rosettes. Perichaetial leaves with limb obsolete, membranous, yellowish to hyahne, with a slender awn. Setae stout, reddish-yellow, 4-5 cm long; capsules inclined to horizontal, cuboidal, sharply 4-angled, brownish, glaucous when fresh; apophysis sharply delimited by a deep groove; exothecial cells bulging-mammillose, pitted; operculum umbonate, with a short beak; peristome teeth 64, single, with a keel at back; epiphragm thin, with dependent mammiliform processes at the margin alternating with the peristome teeth. Spores 8 µm, smooth, greenish. Calyptra hairy, covering the entire capsule.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 796

    P. juniperinum [Willd.] Hedw., Sp. Muse. 89. 1801.

    Polytrichum juniperinum, of the section Juniperifolia, is extremely common in Mexico. The form known as P antillarum Rich., with the back of the leaf conspicuously roughened above, is not distinguished here.

  • Distribution

    Chiapas, Distrito Federal, Durango, Hidalgo, Mexico, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz. —Cosmopolitan.