Encalypta vulgaris Hedw.
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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
Encalyptaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Stems with a central strand. Leaves when dry inconspicuously to prominently keeled, ± irregularly to regularly twisted and incurved, with laminae incurved to conduplicate, 3-4 mm long, 0.8-1.1 mm wide, oblong (sometimes slightly constricted at the middle) to narrowly oblong-obovate, broadly acute to obtuse and muticous; margins plane; costa subpercurrent, shiny at back, green, golden, or dark-brown, smooth above but papillose below; upper cells 4-5-papillose; basal cells with cross-walls pale-yellow, the basal border narrow. Autoicous. Setae 5-8 mm long, laxly twisted to the left near the capsule, yellow to red, almost black at the capsule base; capsules 2.3-3 mm long, ± contracted below the mouth, abruptly contracted at base and then gradually narrowed and puckered to the seta, striate to faintly furrowed, golden except at the red mouth; annulus none; operculum 1.1-1.3 mm long, rostrate from a plano-convex base; peristome none or reduced to a low, white membrane. Spores 25-30 µm, on the proximal surface ± smooth, sometimes with faint radial plicae and sometimes with granules centrally, on the distal surface with rather few, large "gemmae" (5 µm in diameter). Calyptrae 5-5.5 mm long, ± distinctly contracted to a slightly curved or erect rostrum that is 1.3 mm long, erose to entire and sometimes ± contracted and incurved at base, papillose.
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Discussion
Fig. 315
E. vulgaris Hedw., Sp. Muse 60. 1801.
In contrast to E. rhaptocarpa, s. lat, the calyptrae are long-beaked, the setae longer, and the capsules scarcely furrowed or ribbed.
Crum (1972a) reported E. vulgaris from Baja California. The specimen is more or less typical of E. vulgaris s. str., except that the slightly shiny, green to brown costa forms only an inconspicuous keel at the back of the upper part of the leaves. In more typical expressions, the very shiny, goldento dark-brown costa forms a very prominent keel.
Another member of the complex to be expected in Mexico is Encalypta flow ersiana Hort., now known from the Chisos Mountains in Texas, the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes in Guatemala, and Pic la Selle in Haiti (apparently restricted to calcareous substrates in disturbed, forested habitats). It is characterized by small size, muticous leaves, gymnostomous capsules, and pale, more or less translucent calyptrae. The spores have elongate-vermiform, as well as warty, protuberances on the distal face.
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Distribution
On soil over rock, sometimes on disturbed soil, associated with Bryoerythrophyllum recurvirostre, Hypnum revolutum, and Grimmia apocarpa; Baja California and Zacatecas (Delgadillo & Cardenas, 1979).—Northwestern Mexico; North America, Eurasia, Africa, and Australia.
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