Pireella pohlii (Schwägr.) Cardot

Authority

Buck, William R. 1998. Pleurocarpous mosses of the West Indies. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 82: 1-400.

Family

Pterobryaceae

Scientific Name

Pireella pohlii (Schwägr.) Cardot

Description

Species Description - Plants medium-sized, to ca. 7 cm tall, in green to golden, thin to dense, epiphytic colonies. Primary stems creeping, filiform usually naked or with small, reduced leaves, turning ca. 90° and becoming the upright secondary stem (stipe), the creeping stem continuing by a bud from near the base of the stipe, stipes frondose, irregularly pinnately branched, erect, sometimes with flagellate branches; in cross-section with ca. 7 rows of small thick-walled reddish cells surrounding gradually larger firm-walled cells, central strand none; paraphyllia none; pseudoparaphyllia filamentous, numerous; axillary hairs with 2 short brown basal cells and (2-)3 elongate hyaline distal cells. Stipe leaves erect-appressed, oblong-ovate, ca. 2.1 mm long, ± abruptly short-acuminate, slightly rounded to the insertion; margins subentire to obscurely serrulate throughout, plane; costa single, percurrent to subpercurrent; cells linear, mostly smooth, relatively thin-walled, not porose, slightly shorter in the acumen, becoming shorter, broader, and yellow across the insertion; alar cells few, subquadrate to short-rectangular, marginal where leaves rounded to insertion. Branch leaves erect-spreading to spreading, usually in obvious spiral rows, little altered when dry, broadly lanceolate, 1-1.5(-2.2) mm long, gradually acuminate, strongly concave, not plicate, rounded to the insertion to subauriculate; margins finely serrulate throughout, plane; costa single, subpercurrent; cells short-linear, often prorulose at upper ends, thin- to firm-walled, not or scarcely porose, becoming broader, thicker-walled, and porose toward the insertion; alar cells few, subquadrate, confined to the base of the auricle, never extending up the margin by ca. >4 cells. Asexual propagula of 3-12-celled gemmae clustered in leaf axils, uniseriate, and of microphyllous flagellate branches, mostly simple or little-branched. Dioicous, rarely fertile. Perichaetial leaves lanceolate, ca. 2.5-3 mm long, ± abruptly long-acuminate; margins subentire, plane; costa single, filling the acumen; cells linear, smooth or prorulose, firm-walled, becoming shorter in basal margins. Setae elongate, smooth, ca. 10 mm long; capsules exserted, erect and symmetric, cylindric, ca. 2.5 mm long; operculum not seen, reportedly conic-rostrate; exostome teeth not seen, reportedly smooth, often perforate at base; endostome rudimentary. Spores spherical, finely roughened, ca. 28 µm diam. Calyptrae reportedly cucullate, pilose.

Discussion

7. Pireella pohlii (Schwãgr.) Cardot, Rev. Bryol. 40: 18. 1913; Leucodon pohlii Schwägr., Sp. Musc. Frond. Suppl. 3(1): 232. 1828; Neckera pohlii (Schwãgr.) Müll. Hal., Syn. Musc. Frond. 2: 114. 1851; Pterobryon pohlii (Schwãgr.) Mitt., J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 12: 426. 1869; Pirea pohlii (Schwãgr.) Broth, ex Paris, Index Bryol., ed. 2, 4: 18. 1905. Plate 55, figures 1-7 Neckera longipes Müll. Hal., Syn. Musc. Frond. 2: 123. 1851; Pilotrichella longipes (Miill. Hal.) A. Jaeger, Ber. Thãtigk. St. Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 187576: 254. 1877; Pilotrichum longipes (Müll. Hal.) Mont, ex Arzeni, Amer. Midl. Naturalist 52: 34. 1954, comb, inval. Neckera ludoviciana Müll. Hal., Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 5: 50. 1874; Neckera ludoviciae Müll. Hal., Flora 58: 92. 1875, nom. illeg.; Pilotrichella ludoviciana (Müll. Hal.) A. Jaeger, Ber. Thãtigk. St. Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 1875-76: 254. 1877, “ludowiciand’’; Pterobryon ludoviciae (Müll. Hal.) Kindb., Cañad. Rec. Sci. 6: 19. 1894, nom. illeg.; Pilotrichella ludoviciae (Müll. Hal.) Paris, Index Bryol. 947. 1897, nom. illeg.; Pirea ludoviciae (Müll. Hal.) Broth, in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 1(3): 796. 1906, nom. illeg.; Pireella ludoviciae (Müll. Hal.) Grout, Moss Fl. N. Amer. 3: 216. 1934, nom. illeg.; Pilotrichum ludoviciae (Müll. Hal.) A. Jaeger ex Arzeni, Amer. Midl. Naturalist 52: 34. 1954, comb. inval. Pilotrichella tonduzii Renauld & Cardot, Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belgique 32(1): 182. 1894; Pirea tonduzii (Renauld & Cardot) Broth, in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 1(3): 796. 1906; Pireella tonduzii (Renauld & Cardot) Cardot, Rev. Bryol. 40: 18. 1913. Synonymy fide Arzeni (1954), type not seen. Discussion. Pireella pohlii is characterized by appressed stipe leaves, elongate branch leaf cells, and branch leaves rounded to the insertion. Some forms may superficially resemble P. angustifolia, but the appressed stipe leaves and rounded insertions are diagnostic. Pireella cymbifolia has been needlessly confused with P. pohlii. In P. cymbifolia the plants are never as densely branched as in P. pohlii, and are often unbranched, and P cymbifolia has leaves with an unrounded insertion and many more alar cells. From P. papillosula, P. pohlii differs in the plane margins of the stipe leaves (rather than recurved more or less throughout), and less strongly prorulose cells of the branch leaves.

Distribution

Range. Southeastern United States (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi), Mexico, Central America, Colombia and Venezuela to Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, the Guianas, Trinidad; Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic); growing on tree trunks and limestone, in humid forests, at (100-)250-750(-1000) m. The report from St. Eustatius (Wiersma, 1984) is based on a misdetermination.

United States of America North America| Mexico North America| Central America| Venezuela South America| Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| Peru South America| Bolivia South America| Brazil South America| Paraguay South America| Guyana South America| Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Trinidad and Tobago South America| Cuba South America| Jamaica South America| Haiti South America| Dominican Republic South America|