Weissia jamaicensis (Mitt.) Grout
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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.
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Family
Pottiaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants green above, brown below. Stems up to 10 mm high. Leaves 2.5-4 mm long, linear-lanceolate or occasionally ligulate-lanceolate, conspicuously broader and ovate to oblong at a half-sheathing base; margins sharply incurved, occasionally fragile and eroded in rectangular patches; costa with ventral epidermal cells quadrate and papillose, those on the dorsal surface elongate and smooth; upper cells 7-9 µm wide, with evenly thickened walls, bulging at the surface and covered by 4-6 bifid papillae; basal cells differentiated across the leaf, 13-17 µm wide and 3-5:1, with thick or thin walls. Dioicous. Setae 9-13 mm long, yellow- to red-brown, twisted clockwise; capsules 1.5-2.2 mm long, cylindric, yellow- to red-brown; exothecial cells in 1-2 layers, rectangular, ca. 25 µm wide and 3-4:1, rather thin-walled; annulus consisting of about 4 rows of cells; operculum 0.5-1.2 mm long, rostrate; peristome teeth long-ligulate, irregularly cleft, yellow, spiculose-papilloseto spiral-ridged, consisting of 3-10 joints, joined at base as a low membrane hidden by the annulus. Spores 14-18 µm, brown, papillose.
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Discussion
Fig. 159
W. jamaicensis (Mitt.) Grout, Moss Fl. N. Amer. 1: 157. 1938.
Tortula jamaicensis Mitt., J. Linn. Soc, Bot. 12: 147. 1869.
Trichostomum chlorophyllumC. Miill., Linnaea 38: 635. 1874.
T. purpusii Card., Rev. Bryol. 36: 73.1909.
T. angustinerve Card., Rev. Bryol. 37:122.1910.
Tuerckheimia angustinervis(Card.) Broth, in E. & P., Nat. Pfl. (ed. 2), 10: 259. 1924
Plants with exceptionally large leaf bases m a y be confused with Pseudosymblepharis, which has leaf margins erect but not involute. The dioicous sexuality aids in distinguishing small plants from Weissia controversa. T h e marginal basal cells may be thin-walled, giving the appearance of Tortella species, which, however, have plane to erect, not inrolled, upper leaf margins.
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Distribution
On soil, rock, and walls at low to moderate altitudes; Campeche, Chiapas, Coahuila, Durango, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosi, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Yucatan, Zacatecas.—Mexico; Guatemala and Panama; Venezuela; West Indies; southern United States.
United States of America North America| West Indies| Venezuela South America| Panama Central America| Guatemala Central America| Mexico North America|