Homaliodendron flabellatum (Sm.) M.Fleisch.
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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
Neckeraceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants medium-sized to robust, stipitate-frondose, in dark-green, mostly lax colonies. Primary stems creeping, then upturning ca. 90° and becoming the secondary stem (stipe), mostly 4-10 cm tall, (1-)2(-3)-pinnate, loosely complanate-foliate, sometimes with flagellate branches; in cross-section with (3-)4-5(-6) rows of small thick-walled cells surrounding larger firm-walled cells, central strand none; paraphyllia absent; pseudoparaphyllia foliose; axillary hairs with 2 short brown basal cells and (1-)2-3 elongate hyaline distal cells. Stipe and other leaves strongly differentiated, leaves on subsequent levels of branching progressively smaller; stipe leaves similar to those on primary creeping stem, not complánate, strongly appressed, triangular, 0.8-1 mm long, ± gradually broadly acuminate; margins subentire, plane throughout or erect above; costa single, very broad at base, to ca. 85 pm, ending ca. 2/3 the leaf length but very slender above; cells long-hexagonal to rectangular, ca. 4-6:1, smooth, thick-walled, ± porose; alar cells not differentiated. Secondary stem (continuation of stipe above branching) leaves complanate, wide-spreading, broadly oblong to oblong-obovate, ± asymmetric, 2.2-2.6(-4) mm long, acute to short-acuminate; margins coarsely serrate above, the teeth multicellular, subentire below, inflexed on one side below; costa single, ending ca. 2/3 the leaf length, very slender above; cells rounded long-hexagonal, (3-)6-8:1, smooth, thick-walled, ± porose, those in apical 1/4 of leaf rounded-rhomboidal, ca. 1-3:1, becoming more elongate in extreme apex and in teeth, becoming long-rectangular, ca. 8-10:1, and more porose toward the yellowed insertion; alar cells few, small, quadrate to short-rectangular, thinner-walled, extending up the margins by (2-)4-6(-10) cells and mostly in 2-3 rows. Branch leaves less distinctly complanate, spreading to wide-spreading, oblong to oblong-obovate, ca. 1.7 mm long on 1o branches, ca. 1.2 mm long on 2° branches, short-acuminate; margins coarsely serrate, the teeth multicellular; costa single, ending slightly above midleaf; areolation similar to that of secondary stem leaves. Asexual propagula of microphyllous flagellate branches, arising from stem and branch apices and leaf axils. Dioicous. [Sporophytes not known in the New World; description based on Ninh, 1984, from Southeast Asian material.] Perichaetia small, leaves erect-spreading, abruptly and broadly subulate from a broadly ovate base, the subula ca. as long or longer than the base, ca. 0.6 mm long; margins coarsely serrate at extreme apex, suben tire below; costa very short and single or almost none. Setae smooth, 2.5-4 mm long, straight; capsules exserted, suberect, cylindric, 1.8-2.5 mm long; exothecial cells subquadrate to short-rectangular, thick-walled; annulus not differentiated; operculum conic, obliquely short-rostrate; exostome teeth finely papillose throughout, more strongly so on the front surface below; endostome with a rather low basal membrane, segments papillose, keeled, perforate, ca. as long as or slightly longer than the teeth, cilia none. Spores spherical, papillose, 18-20 µm diam. Calyptrae cucullate, smooth.
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Discussion
2. Homaliodendron flabellatum (Sm.) M. Fleisch., Hedwigia 45: 74. 1906; Hookeria flabellata Sm., Trans. Linn. Soc. 9: 280. 1808; Leskea flabellata (Sm.) Schwagr., Sp. Musc. Frond. Suppl. 1(2): 164. 1816; Hypnum flabellatum (Sm.) Dicks, ex Müll. Hal., Syn. Musc. Frond. 2: 225. 1850; Neckera flabellata (Sm.) Mitt., J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. Suppl. 1: 118. 1859, non Hampe, Linnaea 31: 525. 1862, hom, illeg. [= Porotrichum mutabile Hampe]; Homalia flabellata (Sm.) Bosch & Sande Lac., Bryol. Jav. 2: 58. 1863; Porotrichum flabellatum (Sm.) Mitt., Trans. Linn. Soc. London, Bot. II, 3: 175. 1891; Thamnium flabellatum (Sm.) Kindb., Hedwigia 41: 228. 1902, non Nog., Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Formosa 26: 39. 1936, hom, illeg. Plate 45, figures 10-19 Pterygophyllum decompositum Brid., Bryol. Univ. 2: 764. 1827; Neckera decomposita (Brid.) Müll. Hal., Syn. Muse. Frond. 2: 42. 1850; Leskea decomposita (Brid.) Brid. ex Müll. Hal., Syn. Musc. Frond. 2: 42. 1850, comb, inval.; Porotrichum decompositum (Brid.) Mitt., J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 12: 463. 1869; Thamnium decompositum (Brid.) Kindb., Hedwigia 41: 221. 1902; Porothamnium decompositum (Brid.) M. Fleisch. ex Broth, in Engl., Nat. Pflanzenfam., ed. 2, 11: 199. 1925; Homaliodendron decompositum (Brid.) K. A. Wagner, Bryologist 55: 144. 1952. Neckera mohriana Müll. Hal., Linnaea 38: 646. 1874; Homalia mohriana (Müll. Hal.) A. Jaeger, Ber. Thät-igk. St. Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 1875-76: 298. 1877; Homalia mohrii Müll. Hal. ex Kindb., Enum. Bryin. Exot. 16. 1888, nom. illeg.; Homaliodendron mohrianum (Müll. Hal.) M. Fleisch., Hedwigia 45: 77. 1906. Porotrichum grandidens Müll. Hal., Hedwigia 37: 243. 1898; Homaliodendron grandidens (Müll. Hal.) Broth, in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 1(3): 851. 1906. Porotrichum grandidens var. domingense Müll. Hal., Hedwigia 37: 243. 1898. Discussion. Homaliodendron flabellatum is characterized by complanate-foliate, bipinnate plants with coarsely serrate leaves. It might be confused with certain Porotrichum species with strongly toothed leaves (but not as coarse as in H. flabellatum) but may be separated by the stems without a central strand and more spreading leaves with short apical cells. This species is much more widely dispersed in the paleotropics, where it is also fertile, than in the Neotropics. I was unable to discover whether either male or female plants are absent in the West Indies, or whether fertilization just had not occurred.
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Distribution
Range. Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica, India and Sri Lanka north into southern China and east through Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, Australia (Queensland), New Guinea, New Caledonia, Hawaii; Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic); growing on tree trunks, bases, and branches, and less often on rocks, in humid submontane and montane forests, at 1100-2000 m.
Mexico North America| Guatemala Central America| Panama Central America| Costa Rica South America| India Asia| Sri Lanka Nepal Asia| Bhutan Asia| China Asia| Bangladesh Asia| Asia| Philippines Asia| Japan Asia| Taiwan Asia| Australia Oceania| Papua New Guinea Asia| Indonesia Asia| Cuba South America| Jamaica South America|