Syrrhopodon flexifolius Mitt.

  • Authority

    Reese, William D. 1993. Calymperaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 58: 1-102. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Calymperaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Syrrhopodon flexifolius Mitt.

  • Type

    Type. Brazil. São Gabriel, Spruce s.n. (lectotype, NY). Panuré, Spruce 11 (syntype, NY).

  • Synonyms

    Syrrhopodon parasiticus var. flexifolius (Mitt.) W.D.Reese

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants tufted, soft, glossy, green to yellowish-green above, darker in older parts, often tinged with pink below; rhizoids purple-brown to reddish, sometimes conspicuous in lower parts of stems; stems to 2 cm tall, often repent and branching. Leaves dimorphic, 1.5-4 mm long, crispate-flexuous when dry, spreading to recurved when moist, oblong to lanceolate; gemmiferous leaves short and broad, forming comae, sometimes deltoid; margins usually bordered all around with elongate hyaline cells, mostly entire, sometimes with blunt denticulations above; hyaline border sometimes reduced or lacking distally, especially in gemmiferous leaves; cancellinae broad and distinct, distally acute, pale and conspicuously exposed when dry; median cells smooth and pellucid, in vertical files, mostly collenchymatously thickened, often porose, plane dorsally or rarely with low remote indistinct papillae, nearly plane to slightly bulging ventrally, quadrate to rectan- gular or rounded, mostly 10-14 x 14-17 pm; gemmae long-filamentous, borne ventrally along the costa. Sporophytes unknown.

  • Discussion

    This rare moss is known only from a relatively few collections from small area of northern Amazonia and a single collection each from Costa Rica and Panama. It is generally similar to S. parasiticus but differs consistently as noted under that taxon. In my revision of limbate Syrrhopodon (1978), I treated S. flexifolius as a synonym of S. parasiticus (following Florschütz, 1964 and Tixier, 1967), but later (1981) recognized it at the varietal level. Here I restore the taxon to specific rank based on its unique qualities as noted above, which do not intergrade with S. parasiticus.

  • Distribution

    Costa Rica; Panama; Venezuela (Amazonas, Bolivar); Brazil (Amazonas). Tree trunks, branches, twigs, logs, in forests to 1200 m.

    Costa Rica South America| Puntarenas Costa Rica Central America| Panama Central America| Darién Panamá Central America| Venezuela South America| Amazonas Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America|