Callicostella colombica R.S.Williams
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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 small and slender, in lustrous, pale-green, mostly thin mats. Stems creeping, to ca. 2 cm long, freely and irregularly branched, laxly foliate, complanate-foliate; in cross-section with 2-3 rows of medium-sized firm-walled cells surrounding large thin-walled cells, central strand none; pseudoparaphyllia none; axillary hairs 2-celled, with a short brown basal cell and an elongate hyaline distal cell. Leaves not or scarcely contorted when dry, mostly wide-spreading, ± flaccid, oblong-lanceolate, 0.55-0.85(-1) mm long, ± gradually acute to short-acuminate; margins not bordered, regularly serrate above, the teeth often bifid, subentire below, plane to erect; costa double, strong, ending ca. 3/4 the leaf length, diverging ± throughout, the upper ca. 1/3 closely serrate, the teeth mostly bifid, projecting at apex; cells ± isodiametric, 1:1, relatively large, ca. 15 µm wide, smooth, thin-walled, not porose, becoming rectangular toward the insertion; alar cells not differentiated. Asexual propagula not seen. Dioicous. [Sporophytes not known from the West Indies, described from the type.] Perichaetia small, on stems; leaves few, linear-lanceolate, 0.8-1.1 mm long, gradually acuminate; margins not bordered, regularly serrate in the upper 1/2, the teeth mostly bifid, subentire below, plane to erect; costa double, ending ca. 3/4 the leaf length, ± parallel, serrate above; cells long-hexagonal, ca. 6:1, smooth, thin-walled, not porose, becoming rectangular and laxer toward the insertion. Setae elongate, smooth, reddish, ca. 1.3 cm long, flexuose; capsules suberect to inclined, ovoid to short-cylindric, ca. 0.5 mm long, with a well-defined neck; exothecial cells short-rectangular, thin- to firm-walled, somewhat collenchymatous; annulus none; operculum conic-rostrate, ca. as long as the urn; exostome teeth reddish, narrowly triangular, narrowly bordered, on the front surface with a broad pale median furrow with a zig-zag line down it, the plates cross-striolate below, coarsely papillose above, somewhat trabeculate at back, papillose; endostome with a medium-high, smooth to finely papillose basal membrane, segments papillose to spiculose, keeled, perforate, with baffle-like crosswalls, ca. as long as the teeth, cilia none. Spores spherical, finely papillose, ca. 9 µm diam. Calyptrae mitrate, covering the operculum and apex of the urn, irregularly lobed at base, subplicate, naked, roughened above or ± throughout.
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Discussion
6. Callicostella colombica R. S. Williams, Bryologist 28: 61. 1925; Schizomitrium colombicum (R. S. Williams) W. R. Buck & Steere, Moscosoa 2: 47. 1983. Plate 24, figures 12-18 Callicostella grossiretis E. B. Bartram in B. Willis, Bryologist 42: 156. 1939; Schizomitrium grossirete (E. B. Bartram) H. A. Crum, Bryologist 87: 208. 1984, J. Florsch. in Stoffers & Lindeman, Fl. Suriname 6(1, II): 324. 1986, “grossiretiscomb, superfl. Discussion. Callicostella colombica has large, isodiametric, smooth, upper leaf cells and regularly serrate margins. The leaves are scarcely contorted when dry and the plants are dioicous. The species is known from only a handful of collections. It might be confused with C. rivularis, but in that species the costa is not regularly serrate, the marginal teeth are not bifid, and the leaf cells are mostly about 2:1 and only about 9 µm wide. Callicostella colombica might also be confused with depauperate specimens of C. belangerianci but there the margins are irregularly serrate and the leaf cells are smaller.
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Distribution
Range. Panama, Colombia, French Guiana; Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic); mostly growing on tree bark, less often on limestone, in humid forests, below 1000 m.
Panama Central America| Colombia South America| French Guiana South America| Dominican Republic South America| Haiti South America|