Grimmia apocarpa Hedw.

  • 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

    Grimmiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Grimmia apocarpa Hedw.

  • Description

    Species Description - Stems ± erect, up to 15 mm high. Leaves imbricate when dry, erect-spreading when moist, 1-2.2 mm long, keeled, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, hair-pointed (or rarely muticous), the hair points up to 0.8 mm long, broad at the base, usually toothed; margins recurved or sometimes plane at base and apex or rarely throughout, bistratose at the apex and sometimes to the leaf middle; costa without guide cells; cells unistratose or sometimes bistratose near the apex, smooth, 8-10 µm, rounded to irregular, with walls only shghtiy sinuose; cells of leaf base longer, up to about 24 µm long, and ± sinuose, becoming shorter toward the margins. Autoicous. Perichaetial leaves noticeably larger than stem and branch leaves, 2-4 mm long, usually hair-pointed. Setae straight or nearly so, 0.2-0.8 mm long; capsules immersed, 0.7-1.5 mm long, ovoid to ellipsoid, wide-mouthed when dry and empty; annulus none; operculum short- or rather long-rostrate, sometimes obliquely so; columella falling with the operculum; peristome teeth spreading to recurved, reddish, entire, cleft, or perforate. Spores 6-14 µm, smooth or nearly so. Calyptrae cucullate.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 290

    G. apocarpa Hedw., Sp. Muse. 76. 1801.

    G. fasciculataBrid., Muscol. Recent. Suppl. 4: 37. 1819.

    G. strigosa Brid., Bryol. Univ. 1: 171. 1826.

    Schistidium apocarpum (Hedw.) B.S.G., Bryol. Eur. 3(fasc. 25/28). 1845.

    Grimmia platyphylla Stirt., Scott. Naturalist 27: 219. 1890.G. gracillimaBartr., Bryologist 27: 72. 1924.

    Grimmia apocarpa is brown or red-brown, with narrow leaves usually ending in a hyaline hair point. It has been greatly confused with G. rivularis, which is dark-green, dullbrown, or blackish with broader, muticous or minutely hyaline- tipped leaves, mitrate calyptrae, and larger spores. Also in G. rivularis, the upper margins of leaves may be irregularly notched and the back of the costa coarsely papillose. Because of those features it can be confused with an expression of G. apocarpa that has passed under the name var. gracilis (Schleich. ex Schwaegr.) Rohl. or var. stricta (Turn.) Hook. & Tayl.

  • Distribution

    At moderate to high altitudes; Chihuahua, Coahuila, Distrito Federal, Hidalgo, Mexico, Nuevo Leon, Puebla, Sonora, Tlaxcala.—Mexico; widespread in the Northern Hemisphere; South America; Australia and New Zealand; Antarctica; Africa.

    Africa| Antarctica| New Zealand Australia Oceania| South America| North America|