Orthotrichum rupestre Schleich. ex Schwägr.

  • Authority

    Sharp, Aaron J., et al. 1994. The Moss Flora of Mexico. Part Two: Orthotrichales to Polytrichales. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 69 (2)

  • Family

    Orthotrichaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Orthotrichum rupestre Schleich. ex Schwägr.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants (1—)3—12.5 cm high, yellow-, olive-, or dark-green above, blackish below, in loose tufts, cushions or mats. Stems usually much branched. Leaves erect-appressed when dry, ± spreading-recurved to wide-spreading when moist, 2-4.5 mm long, narrowly lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, narrowly obtuse, sharply or slenderly acute, unistratose; margins entire, recurved or narrowly revolute nearly to the apex; costa broad, ending just below the apex, orange below; upper cells 6-13 µm wide, irregularly rounded-hexagonal, with thick walls and 1-2 small, conic or low, forked papillae per cell, rarely smooth; basal cells elongate, thick-walled and nodose to rectangular and thin-walled, grading to quadrate at the margins, older leaves with yellowish, extremely nodose cells near the base. Gonioautoicous. Setae up to 1.8 mm long; capsules 1.3-1.8 mm long, ± 1 mm wide when wet, immersed to slightly exserted (usually ± 1/3 emergent), globose-ovoid to short-oblong, smooth or lightly to distinctly 8-ribbed for 1/2-2/3 the length, not much constricted below the mouth, contracted to the seta through a long neck; exothecial cells not or moderately differentiated in orange bands ± 6 cells wide for 1/2 the length ofthe capsule; stomata superficial, in middle and lower portions of the urn; exostome teeth 16, erect or sometimes spreading-recurved when old, smooth, scattered-papillose, papillose-reticulate, coarsely papillose-granulate or with large plates o n the surface of the teeth; endostome segments none or rarely 8 and rudimentary, smooth or roughened, lacking when the capsule is old and dry; preperistome large and conspicuous or rudimentary. Spores 13-21 µm, finely and irregularly papillose. Calyptrae oblong, smooth, hairy or rarely naked, the hairs finely papillose, ± spinulose and usually extending over the beak.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 457

    O. rupestre Schleich. ex Schwaegr., Sp. Muse. Suppl. 1(2): 27.1816.

    O. affine var. rupestreBhd., Muscol. Recent. Suppl. 2: 7. 1812, nom. nud.

    O. texanum Sull. & Lesq., Musci Bor. Amer. 122. 1856.

    O. douglasii Duby, Mem. Soc. Phys. Geneve 19: 293.1867.

    O. texanum var. globosum Lesq., Mem. Calif. Acad. Sci. 1: 17.1868

    O. californicum Vent., Hedwigia 12: 6. 1873.

    Dorcadion rupestre (Schleich. ex Schwaegr.) Lindb., Musci Scand. 29. 1879.

    Orthotrichum bulhtum C. Mull., Flora 70: 223. 1887.

    O. macfaddenae Williams, Bryologist 31: 52. 1928.

    O. rupestre var. globosum (Lesq.) Grout, Moss Fl. N. Amer. 2: 110. 1935.

    O. rupestre var. macfaddenae (Williams) Grout, Moss Fl. N. Amer. 2 111.1935.

    Orthotrichum rupestre has emergent, oblong capsules with superficial stomata and a peristome of 16, usually erect exostome teeth. The leaves are always unistratose. Orthotrichum rupestre generally has ovate-lanceolate, acute leaves with elongate, nodose basal cells, whereas O. hallii, O. anomalum, and O. cupulatum have more oblong-ovate to lanceolate, blunter leaves and rectangular, non-nodose basal cells. Orthotrichum laevigatum Zett., to be expected in northern Mexico, has exserted, cylindric capsules.

  • Distribution

    On granitic boulders at 2300-2600 m elev.; Baja California and Nuevo Leon.—Baja California northward to northern Alberta, the Yukon, and southern Alaska; disjunct in three scattered localities in eastern North America; Europe; North and East Africa; Asia; also southern South America, Hawaii, and Australasia.

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