Lepidopilum amplirete (Sull.) Mitt.
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Authority
Buck, William R. 1998. Pleurocarpous mosses of the West Indies. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 82: 1-400.
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Family
Pilotrichaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants medium-sized, in lustrous, yellow-green to golden, lax tufts. Primary stems creeping, short, the leaves mostly eroded, with erect, mostly simple branches, to ca. 2 cm long, complanate-foliate; in cross-section with a unistratose hyalodermis over 3-4 rows of medium-sized thick-walled cells surrounding large thin-walled cells, central strand none; axillary hairs 2-celled, with a short brown basal cell and an elongate hyaline distal cell. Leaves mostly contorted when dry, ± flat when moist, mostly distant, lateral and dorsal leaves not greatly differentiated, the dorsal ones somewhat shorter and more acuminate, all oblong, oblong-ovate, or spatulate, 1.4-2.8 mm long, typically abruptly acute to short-acuminate (especially in dorsal leaves), rounded at the insertion; margins not or sometimes bordered by 1-2 rows of elongate, narrow cells, most conspicuous (if present) just below apex, sharply serrate to serrulate at apex, distantly serrulate to midleaf, entire below, mostly plane; costa double, ending 1/3-1/2 the leaf length, sometimes somewhat shorter or longer, often slender; cells tilinto firm-walled, in apical 1/4-1/3 of leaf conspicuously shorter than those below, rhomboidal to hexagonal, 2-4(-6):1, below that becoming long-hexagonal, 8-12:1, becoming short-rectangular across the insertion in 1-3 rows; alar cells not differentiated. Asexual propagula common, clustered in leaf axils, 10-12(-20)-celled when mature, uniseriate, ca. 0.45(-0.85) mm long, chlorophyllose, occasionally (in very humid habitats) produced on leaf tips from dedifferentiated laminal cells, clustered, (3-)4-6-celled, uniseriate, to ca. 0.13 mm long, bright-green. Apparently dioicous. Perichaetia small, inconspicuous; leaves few, pale, ovate-triangular, 0.85-1.2 mm long, gradually short-acuminate; margins obscurely bordered by a single row of elongate cells, subentire to serrulate above, entire below, plane; costa none; cells long-hexagonal, long-rectangular to linear throughout, lax. Setae elongate, erect, low-papillose above, smooth below, reddish, 6-10 mm long; capsules erect, cylindric, yellowish, darker around mouth, ca. 2 mm long; exothecial cells subquadrate, strongly collenchymatous; annulus of a single row of rectangular, thin-walled cells, falling with the operculum; operculum conic-rostrate; exostome teeth recurved when dry, strongly bordered, densely and finely papillose throughout, on the front surface pale, reddish and trabeculate at back; endostome yellowish, densely and finely papillose throughout, with a low basal membrane, segments erect, slightly keeled, not perforate, cilia none. Spores spherical, finely roughened, nearly smooth, 11-14(-17) µm diam. Calyptrae mitrate, covering operculum and ca. 1/2 of urn, plicate, irregularly lobed at base, ornamented with hyaline, multiseriate ramenta, smooth.
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Discussion
4. Lepidopilum amplirete (Sull.) Mitt., J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 12; 382. 1869; Cylindrothecium amplirete Sull., Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 5: 284. 1861; Entodon ampliretis (Sull.) A. Jaeger, Ber. Thätigk. St. Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 1876-77: 292. 1878. Plate 14, figures 6-13 Hookeria cubensis Sull., Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 5: 285. 1861; Lepidopilum cúbense (Sull.) Mitt., J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 12: 384. 1869; Lepidopilum phyllorhizum Mitt., J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 12: 385. 1869. Discussion. Lepidopilum amplirete is recognized by its oblong leaves, rounded at the insertion, often with a ± rounded apex that is abruptly short-acute. The upper leaf cells are about one-half as long as those below, or shorter. In humid habitats propagula are produced in the leaf axils, and even on the leaf apices. The setae are roughened only above and smooth below. The calyptrae are ornamented with relatively short ramenta. Lepidopilum amplirete is best recognized by its relatively short upper leaf cells, greatly contrasting with those at midleaf. Although rarely fertile, the seta only low-papillose above and smooth below is another distinctive feature. It might be confused with sterile forms of L. longifolium without recurved leaf margins. In such cases, the shorter leaf apex and the leaves rounded to the insertion should aid in determination. If setae are present the two are immediately separable. One might confuse L. amplirete with Lepidopilidium portoricense but in the latter species the leaves are more ovate and the apex, also abruptly tapered, is much longer and usually slenderly acuminate. Lepidopilum amplirete appears to be fairly rare. Only a few collections from each of the islands on which the species occurs have been seen. Cylindrothecium amplirete and Hookeria cubensis were published simultaneously and I have chosen L. amplirete as the name for the species because the type of H. cubensis is a mixture of that species and Lepidopilidium portoricense. In fact, many of the “isotypes” of H. cubensis seen consist only of the Lepidopilidium. Mitten mistakenly thought Sullivant was describing the Lepidopilidium and redescribed H. cubensis as Lepidopilum phyllorhizum. The two names are thus homotypic synonyms. This problem was pointed out by Richards (1934). Churchill (1988) recognized both L. amplirete and L. cubense as distinct species. In part he separated them on sporophytic features, supposedly unknown in L. amplirete. However, I see no fundamental differences between the two taxa and thus synonymize them. It may be noted that Churchill cited a single Puerto Rican collection (Buck 3639, NY) under both names.
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Distribution
Range. Guatemala to Panama, Colombia, Surinam, French Guiana; Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico; growing sometimes on twigs or typically on limestone rocks, in humid forests, at ca. 150-1000 m.
Guatemala Central America| Central America| Colombia South America| Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Cuba South America| Jamaica South America| Haiti South America| Dominican Republic South America| Puerto Rico South America|