Orthotrichum cupulatum Hoffm. ex Brid.
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Authority
Sharp, Aaron J., et al. 1994. The Moss Flora of Mexico. Part Two: Orthotrichales to Polytrichales. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 69 (2)
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Family
Orthotrichaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants up to 1.2 cm high, light-, olive-green, or brown above, brown or black below, in cushions. Stems sparsely branched. Leaves erect-appressed when dry, erect-spreading to spreading or sometimes recurved to wide-spreading when moist, 2.5-4 mm long, ovate- to oblong-lanceolate, acute or narrowly obtuse, unistratose or sometimes bistratose in streaks in the upper 1/3; margins entire, recurved or revolute to near the apex; costa ending near the apex; upper cells 8-12 µm wide, irregularly rounded-hexagonal to elliptic, with 2-3 large, forked papillae or papillae sometimes small and inconspicuous and walls irregularly and moderately thickened; basal cells long- to short-rectangular, becoming quadrate toward the margins. Gonioautoicous. Setae 0.5-1 mm long; capsules immersed to 1/2 emergent when dry, 1.2-1.6 mm long, ± 0.8 mm wide, ovoid-pyriform or sometimes short-oblong when mature, oblong-ovoid and usually constricted below a flaring mouth when old and dry, 16-ribbed, sometimes with 8 long and 8 short ribs, abruptly contracted to the seta, dark-brown; exothecial cells differentiated in 16 or sometimes 8 orange bands ± 4 cells wide for half to 2/3 the length ofthe capsule; stomata immersed, in 1-2 rows in the middle ofthe urn, half- to entirely covered by greatly differentiated subsidiary cells; exostome teeth 16, erect, becoming spreading-reflexed with age (usually not present when the capsule is old), finely vertically-striate, papillose-striate, or papillose-reticulate; endostome segments rarely present, 8, short, smooth, of 1 row of cells; preperistome often present. Spores 9-16 µm, coarsely papillose. Calyptrae smooth, oblong to oblong-conic, with papiUose hairs, mitrate with a long beak, scarcely plicate.
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Discussion
Fig. 460
O. cupulatumBrid., Muscol. Recent. 2(2): 25. 1801.
O. utahense Sull. ex Lesq., Misc. Publ. U. S. Geol. Geog. Surv. Terr. 4: 157. 1874.
O. leiodon Kindb., Hedwigia 42: 17. 1903.
Ovoid, 16-ribbed, immersed or sometimes emergent capsules distinguish O. cupulatum. Its saxicoloua habitat and unistratose or partially bistratose leaves are also useful.
Orthotrichum anomalum occurs in similar habitats; it is best identified by exserted, cylindric capsules with 8 long and 8 short ribs in the upper half.
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Distribution
On dry boulders in high montane habitats; Nuevo Leon (Cerro Potosi).— Northeastern Mexico; western North America from Vancouver Island southward; Europe, Asia, Turkey, and North Africa.
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