Henicodium geniculatum (Mitt.) W.R.Buck
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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
Pterobryaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants medium-sized to slender, the secondary stems mostly 1-2 cm tall, usually slender, green, and ± flagellate when growing in shade, more turgid, golden, and obtuse at apex when growing in exposed habitats. Primary stems creeping, filiform, 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 erect to ascending, straight or curved, not or little-branched, sometimes flagellate, not complanate-foliate; in cross-section with 3-1 rows of small thick-walled colored cells surrounding abruptly larger firm-walled cells, central strand none; paraphyllia none; pseudoparaphyllia filamentous, numerous; axillary hairs with 2 short brown basal cells and 2 elongate hyaline distal cells. Primary stem leaves ovate-lanceolate, ca. 1 mm long, acute to broadly acuminate; margins papillose-serrulate, plane to recurved; costa usually double, ending ca. 1/4-1/3 the leaf length; cells linear, unipapillose; alar cells in 2-3 marginal rows. Secondary stem leaves not ranked, appressed when dry, spreading when moist, oblong-lanceolate to oblong-ovate, 1.2-2 mm long, gradually broadly acuminate or often appearing ± abruptly so because of subapical recurved margins, concave, plicate, decurrent; margins papillose-serrulate, revolute nearly throughout; costa single, ending ca. 2/3 the leaf length, often obscured, especially above, by plicae; cells linear-flexuose, ca. 4 µm wide, unipapillose, rarely smooth, firm-walled, ± porose, becoming shorter, thicker-walled, more porose, and smooth toward the yellowed insertion; alar cells in 7-15 rows and extending up the margins by 25-50 cells, subquadrate, collenchymatous. Asexual propagula of gemmae clustered in leaf axils on short stalks, uniseriate, (3-)6-8-celled, somewhat curved. Dioicous, very rarely fertile. [Sporophytes not known from the West Indies; description based on the Peruvian lectotype.] Perichaetia conspicuous; leaves differentiated, erect, oblong-lanceolate, 1.4-1.7 mm long, gradually or ± abruptly acuminate, plicate; margins papillose-serrulate, plane or recurved near apex; costa single, ending near base of the acumen; cells linear to linear-flexuose, unipapillose (and prorulose?), very thick-walled, porose; alar cells greatly reduced in number, in only 2-3 rows but extending well up the margins. Setae elongate, smooth, orange, erect, ca. 6 mm long; capsules well exserted, erect and symmetric, short-cylindric, ca. 2 mm long, including a well-developed neck; exothecial cells irregularly hexagonal, firm-walled, becoming oblate at the mouth; annulus and operculum not seen; peristome double, inserted below the mouth, exostome teeth pale yellow, triangular, ± smooth, irregularly thickened and thus appearing broadly furrowed, with a well-developed prostome; endostome smooth, with a low basal membrane, segments ± keeled, perforate, almost as long as the teeth, cilia none. Spores spherical, finely papillose, 25-33 µm diam. Calyptrae not known.
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Discussion
1. Henicodium geniculatum (Mitt.) W. R. Buck, Bryologist 92: 534. 1989; Leucodon geniculata Mitt., J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 12: 409. 1869; Leucodontopsis geniculata (Mitt.) H. A. Crum & Steere, Sci. Surv. Porto Rico & Virgin Islands 7(4): 511. 1957. Plate 60, figures 1-7 Neckera floridana Austin, Bot. Gaz. (Crawfordsville) 4: 152. 1879; Pilotrichella floridana (Austin) Kindb., Enum. Bryin. Exot. 28. 1888; Leucodontopsis floridana (Austin) E. Britton, Bryologist 15: 28. 1912. Leucodontopsis plicata Renauld & Cardot, Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belgique 32(1): 177. 1894. Leucodontopsis horeana Renauld & Cardot, Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belgique 34(2): 66. 1896; Leucodontopsis floridana var. gracilis Thér., Bull. Soc. Bot. Genève II, 17: 256. 1925. Leucodontopsis floridana var. latifolia Thér., Bull. Soc. Bot. Genève II, 17: 256. 1925. Discussion. Henicodium geniculatum has mostly simple, erect secondary stems with unicostate leaves. The margins are recurved nearly throughout and the cells are unipapillose. The species may be distinguished from various Pireella species by leaves appressed when dry and spreading when moist (rather than little altered when dry) and by leaf cells papillose over the lumina (rather than smooth or prorulose). Henicodium seems most often confused with poorly developed specimens of Pseudocryphaea domingensis. However, that species has a percurrent costa, leaf cells much wider and usually smooth, and no axillary gemmae but, usually, conspicuous flagellate branches. Only a single fertile specimen of the species has been seen, in the lectotype from Peru. The capsules are deoperculate but the cells around the mouth are level and probably were directly attached to the operculum without an intervening annulus. Although calyptrae were not observed, since the vaginula has numerous long, flexuose hairs, the calyptra is probably also hairy.
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Distribution
Range. Florida, Mexico to Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Trinidad, Africa, Southeast Asia; Bahamas (Andros, New Providence), Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico, the report from St. Eustatius (Wiersma, 1984) is based on a misdetermination; growing on branches or less often tree trunks, frequently in, but rarely collected from, the canopy, in ± open, mesic to dry forests, below 1000 m (rarely higher in South America).
United States of America North America| Mexico North America| Central America| Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Ecuador South America| Peru South America| Bolivia South America| Brazil South America| Trinidad and Tobago South America| Africa| Asia| Bahamas South America| Cuba South America| Jamaica South America| Haiti South America| Dominican Republic South America| Puerto Rico South America|