Cryphaea jamesonii Taylor
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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
Cryphaeaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants slender to medium-sized, secondary stems to ca. 7 cm long, but mostly ca. 4 cm long, in mostly bright- to dark-green, thin but sometimes extensive, epiphytic colonies. Primary stems creeping, very slender, inconspicuous, with reduced, scale-like leaves, turning ca. 90° and becoming the secondary stem, the creeping stem continuing by a bud from near the base of the secondary stem, secondary stems usually erect, freely but irregularly branched, not complanate-foliate; in cross-section with 2-4 rows of small thick-walled cells surrounding abruptly larger firm-walled cells, central strand none; paraphyllia none; pseudoparaphyllia filamentous; axillary hairs with a single short brown basal cell and 2-3 short to elongate hyaline distal cells. Secondary stem and branch leaves similar, loosely appressed when dry, rapidly spreading to wide-spreading when moist, lanceolate, 1.4-2(-2.4 extralimitally) mm long, gradually acuminate and often with a twisted acumen, concave, slenderly long-decurrent; margins serrate above, entire below, plane above, recurved below; costa single, ending in the base of the acumen, not covered with laminal cells, not cristate; cells oval, 2-4:1, smooth, firm-walled, in the acumen becoming linear-flexuose, 5-10:1, becoming rectangular juxtacos-tally toward the insertion; alar cells similar to median cells, gradually differentiated, in more obvious rows and somewhat more angular, rectangular in the lower part of the decurrencies. Asexual propagula none. Autoicous. Perichaetia conspicuous; leaves erect with spreading apices, oblong-obovate, abruptly long-awned, the lamina 1.1-1.7 mm long, the awn 1.25-1.45 mm long and serrate-spinose above, on dissection the lamina almost always folded in half lengthwise; margins subentire to crenulate, plane throughout; costa mostly lacking; cells pale, long-rectangular and thin-walled at the shoulders, linear-flexuose and firm-walled elsewhere, smooth throughout. Setae very short, mostly embedded in the vaginula, smooth, ca. 0.2 mm long; capsules immersed, erect and symmetric, ovoid-cylindric, 1.2-1.5 mm long, broadest near midurn; exothecial cells subquadrate to short-rectangular, thin-walled, becoming smaller and slightly thicker-walled toward the mouth; annulus revoluble, of 2-3 rows of small, very thick-walled cells; operculum high-conic to short-rostrate, ca. 0.4 mm long; exostome teeth linear-triangular, evenly papillose-spiculose throughout, not trabeculate at back; endostome with a very low or absent basal membrane, segments papillose-spiculose throughout, linear, not or scarcely keeled, not perforate, ca. 3/4 the length of the teeth, cilia none. Spores ± spherical, finely papillose, 20-28 µm diam. Calyptrae conic-mitrate, naked, roughened by projecting upper cell ends.
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Discussion
2. Cryphaea jamesonii Taylor, London J. Bot. 7: 192. 1848. Plate 64, figures 9-17 Cryphaea reticulata Besch., Mém. Soc. Sci. Nat. Cherbourg 16: 213. 1872. Cryphaea nitidula Schimp. ex Besch., Mém. Soc. Sci. Nat. Cherbourg 16: 213. 1872, fide Manuel, J. Hattori Bot. Lab. 49: 128. 1981. Discussion. Cryphaeci jamesonii is characterized by lanceolate leaves, often with twisted apices. The margins are recurved below and plainly toothed above. The cells are smooth, and the costa ends in the acumen. The species differs from C. patens in the more slender acumen with the cells of the acumen much narrower and longer than those at midleaf. Although Mitten (1869: 413) cited the costa as excurrent, Taylor (1848: 192) clearly stated in the protologue that the costa ends below the apex, and an examination of the type at FH bears out Taylor’s observations.
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Distribution
Range. Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia; Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic); usually growing on branches of shrubs and trees, in humid forests, at 1600-2000 m.
Mexico North America| Guatemala Central America| Costa Rica South America| Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| Peru South America| Bolivia South America| Haiti South America| Dominican Republic South America|