Campylopus fragilis (Brid.) Bruch & Schimp.

  • Authority

    Sharp, Aaron J., et al. 1994. The Moss Flora of Mexico. Part One: Sphagnales to Bryales. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 69 (1): 1-452.

  • Family

    Dicranaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Campylopus fragilis (Brid.) Bruch & Schimp.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants in small, dense, bright- to yellow-green tufts 0.5-3 cm high, red-brown below, densely foliate, with many short branches at the apex forming a thick, penicillate comal tuft, with clusters of small, deciduous leaves often produced in the comal tufts. Leaves somewhat flexuose when dry, fragile, about 5 mm long, narrowed to the insertion and tapered from an ovate-lanceolate base to a long subula, the lower half of the leaf shiny-white and noticeable when dry; margins entire, incurved above; costa excurrent, slightly toothed at the extreme tip, 1/2-2/3 the leaf base, in section showing lax ventral cells and dorsal substereids, mostly occurring as a single row of slightly more thick-walled cells; alar cells scarcely differentiated; basal cells large, lax, thin-walled, and hyaline, with 3-5 rows at the margins narrower; upper cells quadrate to ± rhombic. Setae 5-8 mm long; capsules ellipsoidal, furrowed. Spores 14-16 µm, brownish, finely papillose. Calyptrae fringed. (Rarely producing sporophytes.)

  • Discussion

    Figs. 91f-k, 92

    C. fragilis(Brid.) B.S.G., Bryol. Eur. l(fase 41). 1847.

    Dicranum fragile Brid., J. Bot. (Schrader) 1800(2): 296. 1801.

    Campylopus flexuosus var. fragilis (Brid.) Steud., Nom. Bot. 2: 99. 1824.

    C. fimbriates Mitt, J. Linn. Soc, Bot. 12: 88. 1869.

    Dicranum retinerveC. Mull., Bull. Herb. Boissier 5: 552. 1897.

    Campylopus retinervis (C. Miill.) Par., Index Bryol. Suppl. 96. 1900.

    C. subturfaceus Card., Rev. Bryol. 37: 119. 1910.

    The shiny-white leaf bases with a large area occupied by large, lax, thin-walled cells and no noticeable differentiation of alar cells distinguish this species.

    The species is represented in tropical and subtropical regions by the fo. densus (Bruch & Schimp.) Monk., a compact, densely foliate expression producing small, deciduous leaves; in temperate regions the stems are shorter, with stem leaves longer, loosely arranged, and more spreading, and deciduous leaves are often lacking.

  • Distribution

    On damp soil or earth-covered siliceous rocks or in rock crevices, also on decaying wood; Chiapas, Michoacan, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Veracruz.-Mexico; Guatemala and Costa Rica; Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Haiti; Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; northwestern North America; Arkansas; Europe, Africa, and southern and eastern Asia.

    Chiapas Mexico North America| Michoacán Mexico North America| Nayarit Mexico North America| Oaxaca Mexico North America| Veracruz Mexico North America| Guatemala Central America| Costa Rica South America| Cuba South America| Jamaica South America| Puerto Rico South America| Haiti South America| Amazonas Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| Peru South America|