Brachymenium klotzschii (Schwägr.) Paris

  • 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

    Brachymenium klotzschii (Schwägr.) Paris

  • Description

    Species Description - Medium-sized or sometimes small, ± lustrous plants in loose tufts or merely gregarious. Stems erect, ca. 1 cm long, usually branched by slender subfloral innovations. Leaves ± wrinkled or twisted and appressed to the stem when dry, erect to erect-spreading when moist, broadly oblong to elliptic or oblong-ovate and short- or rather long-awned, ovate to oblong oblong, obtuse, ± decurrent; margins ± reflexed below or plane, finely crenulate to serrulate above, indistinctly bordered by narrower, occasionally ± thicker-walled cells in 1-2 rows; costa strong, short- or sometimes relatively long-excurrent; cells oblong-hexagonal, tending to be oblong-rhomboidal near the apex and margin, subquadrate at the basal margins. Dioicous. Setae slender to stout, 1-2.3 cm long; capsules erect, oblong to oblong-claviform, with a short, inconspicuous neck; operculum small, short-conic to short-beaked; peristome teeth sublinear, hyaline and fragile, separate at base, occasionally slit or bifid above; endostome hyaline, consisting of basal membrane alone. Spores 12-15 µm, roughened.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 376a-e

    B. klotzschii (Schwaegr.) Par., Index Bryol. 123. 1894.

    Didymodon klotzschii Schwaegr., Sp. Muse. Suppl. 4: 310a. 1842.

    Bryum barbuloides C. Mull., Nuovo Giorn. Bot. Ital. II, 4: 21. 1897.

    B. macrocarpum Card., Rev. Bryol. 38: 6. 1911.

    In the type of B. macrocarpum (from Veracruz) the leaves are larger and ovate with reflexed margins and strong costae, but in Florida specimens n a m e d B. macrocarpum and the type of B. klotzschii from Brazil they are oblong, with margins less reflexed or plane and costae thinner. The size of capsules and shape of opercula are quite variable.

  • Distribution

    On rocks or bark of trees at lower altitudes; Veracruz and Oaxaca.—Mexico; Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil; Rorida.

    United States of America North America| Brazil South America| Bolivia South America| Peru South America| Mexico North America|