Bryum apiculatum Schwägr.

  • 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

    Bryaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Bryum apiculatum Schwägr.

  • Description

    Species Description - Small to medium-sized, lustrous, occasionally ± reddish plants, usually in tufts. Gemmae axillary, reddish or red-brown, broadly oblong or bulbous, shortly stalked (rarely present). Stems simple or subflorally branched. Leaves closely spaced almost throughout, appressed when dry, erectspreading when moist, often rather strongly concave, oblong to oblong-lanceolate, short- or long-apiculate, not or slightly narrowed at base, not bordered; margins plane or slightly reflexed, entire; cells oblong-rhomboidal, abruptly broader below. Leaves of innovations smaller, narrower. Dioicous. Setae slender, up to 2, rarely more than 3 cm long; capsules horizontal to nutant, up to 3 mm long, oblong-pyriform, short-necked; operculum relatively large, nearly hemispheric, not or minutely apiculate; cilia of endostome appendiculate. Spores 12-15 µm, nearly smooth.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 355

    B. apiculatum Schwaegr., Sp. Muse. Suppl. 1(2): 102. 1816.

    B. nitens Hook., Icones Plant. Rar. 1: pl. 19, f. 6. 1836.

    B. cruegeri Hampe ex C. Mull., Syn. Muse. Frond. 1: 300. 1848.

    B. lansbergii Dozy & Molk., Prodr. Fl. Bryol. Surinam. 40.1854.

    B. ovalifolium Sull., Proc. Amer. Acad. 5: 282. 1861.

    B. rubrifolium Schimp. ex Besch., Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot. VI, 3:206.1876.

    B. cavifoliumSchimp. ex Besch., Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot. VI, 3:206.1876.

    B. pertenue Besch., J. Bot. (Morot) 8: 62. 1894.

    B. ripense C. Miill., Bull. Herb. Boissier 5: 551. 1897.

    B. landii Card., Rev. Bryol. 38: 34.1911.

    B. lanceolifolium Card., Rev. Bryol. 38: 34. 1911.

    B. raunkiaeriBroth., Dansk Bot. Ark. 2(9): 4. 1918.

    Pohlia cruegeri (Hampe) Andr. in Grout, Moss Fl. N. Amer. 2(3): 205. 1935.

    P. apiculata (Schwaegr.) Crum & Anders., Moss. E. N. Amer. 1: 534. 1981.

    In Bryum apiculatum, red stems contrast with shiny, yellow leaves with erect, unbordered margins and fairly long cells. Brown or reddish, globose brood bodies are rarely borne in the leaf axils.

    This species is quite variable in stature, luster, and color, as well as branching, size, shape, concavity, apiculation or acumination of leaves, areolation, excurrency of costa, length of seta, and habit and size of capsules. Fruiting uncommonly, it seems to be a weed and is probably often confused with other species of Bryum and Pohlia.

  • Distribution

    On moist to relatively dry soil or rocks in semi-shaded to open sites; Durango, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Nayarit, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Veracruz, Yucatan.—Mexico; pantropical, extending into temperate areas in both Northern and Southern Hemispheres.