Orthostichopsis tortipilis (Müll.Hal.) Broth.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Pterobryaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Orthostichopsis tortipilis (Müll.Hal.) Broth.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants relatively soft and slender, the secondary stems pendent to ca. 20 cm long, becoming progressively more slender distally, in bright- to yellow-green wefts. Primary stems short, creeping, filiform, with small, reduced ecostate 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, secondary stems initially erect but soon becoming pendent, irregularly pinnate, not complanate-foliate; in cross-section with (2-)3-4 rows of small thick-walled colored cells surrounding larger thinner-walled cells, central strand none; paraphyllia none; pseudoparaphyllia filamentous, numerous; axillary hairs with 2 short brown basal cells and 2 elongate hyaline distal cells. Secondary stem leaves not or scarcely seriate, erect, oblong-lanceolate to oblong-ovate, more slender distally, ca. 2.5-2.9 mm long, abruptly to ± gradually hairpointed (the hairpoint mostly uniseriate, crispate or not, ca. 1/2 the leaf length), deeply concave, decurrent; margins sparsely serrulate above, entire below, incurved above, plane below; costa single, slender, ending near the base of the hairpoint (in basal leaves) or lower (in more distal leaves); cells linear-flexuose, smooth, firm-walled, porose; alar cells mostly subquadrate to short-rectangular in relatively small but distinct groups, extending up the margins by 5-10(-15) cells, not reaching the costa, very thick-walled (in basal leaves) or not (in more distal leaves). Branch leaves weakly 5-seriately arranged, erect, oblong-lanceolate, 1.7-2.5 mm long, ± abruptly hairpointed, the hairpoint mostly >1/2 of the leal length, concave, short-decurrent; margins sparsely serrulate from base of the hairpoint almost to base, mostly narrowly incurved almost throughout; costa single, ending ca. 2/3 the leaf length; cells linear-flexuose, smooth, firm-walled, porose; alar cells mostly subquadrate to short-rectangular, extending up the margins by 4-8 cells, not reaching the costa, hyaline to pale-yellow, evenly thin-walled or somewhat irregularly thick-walled. Asexual propagula none. Dioicous. Sporophytes unknown.

  • Discussion

    2. Orthostichopsis tortipilis (Müll. Hal.) Broth, in Engl., Nat. Pflanzenfam., ed. 2, 11: 150. 1925; Neckera tortipilis Müll. Hal., Bot. Zeitung (Berlin) 13: 768. 1855; Meteorium tortipile (Müll. Hal.) Mitt., J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 12: 435. 1869; Pilotrichella tortipilis (Müll. Hal.) A. Jaeger, Ber. Thätigk. St. Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 1875-76: 262. 1877. Plate 58, figures 7-13 Meteorium crinitum Sulk, U.S. Expl. Exped., Musci 22. 1859 [I860]; Orthostichella crinita (Sull.) Hampe, Vidensk. Meddel. Dansk Naturhist. Foren. Kjøbenhavn III, 2: 277. 1870; Neckera crinita (Sulk) Hampe, Vidensk. Meddel. Dansk Naturhist. Foren. Kjpbenhavn IV, 1: 113. 1879, hom. illeg., non Griff., Not. Pl. Asiat. 2: 464. 1849 [= Neckeropsis crinita (Griff.) M. Fleisch.]; Pilotrichella crinita (Sulk) Broth., Acta Soc. Sci. Fenn. 19(5): 23. 1891; Orthostichopsis crinita (Sulk) Broth, in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 1(3): 805. 1906. Discussion. Orthostichopsis tortipilis is characterized by relatively slender plants with oblong-lanceolate branch leaves with a hairpoint mostly half the total leaf length. The alar cells are pale-yellow, with walls mostly not strongly thickened. Although not a particularly rare species, it has apparently never been found with sporophytes. The species has long gone under the name O. crinita, in part because of the misimpression that the type of that name was collected in Cuba. In fact, it was collected in southern Brazil, near Rio de Janeiro. Hampe (1870: 277) was the first to note the synonymy of O. crinita and O. tortipilis. However, he mistakenly thought Sullivant’s name was older and adopted that epithet. Mitten (1869), though, placed O. tortipilis among his Meteorium species that would later be moved to Squamidium. This presumably misled Crum and Steere (1957: 517) into synonymizing O. crinita with Squamidium leucotrichum. The recent monograph of Squamidium (Allen & Crosby, 1986b) resurrected the epithet tortipilis in Orthostichopsis. Brotherus (1925) put O. crinita and O. tortipilis in different sections of the genus. Orthostichopsis crinita was reported as having immersed capsules (presumably based on collections of O. praetermissa), but O. tortipilis was listed as having exserted capsules. I have been unable to verify this, even among the collections of the Brotherus herbarium. Perhaps there was some confusion with O. tenuis of Brazil (and elsewhere), which does indeed have exserted capsules.

  • Distribution

    Range. Eastern Brazil from Santa Catarina north to Bahia, Paraguay; Cuba (especially the Sierra Maestra), Hispaniola (Dominican Republic, from a single locality near Puerto Plata); growing on tree trunks or rarely rocks, in humid forests, at 750-1200 m.

    Brazil South America| Paraguay South America| Cuba South America| Dominican Republic South America|