Groutiella chimborazensis (Spruce ex Mitt.) Florsch.
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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 about 0.5 to 2.5 cm high, ± shiny, yellow- to olive-green above, darker-green to brown below, in spreading, dense mats. Stems creeping, radiculose, producing numerous erect branches. Leaves irregularly contorted-twisted and undulate, with many apices incurled when dry, erectspreading to wide-spreading, ± flexuose, and variably undulate when moist, 1.4-2.6 mm long, keeled below, laminae broadly reflexed, often touching the costa when dry, ligulatelanceolate, oblong, or narrowly ovate-lanceolate, sharply acuminate, acute, sometimes ± broadly apiculate, at least some leaves undulate-rugose, sometimes only the oldest leaves laxly rugose; margins entire or serrulate below; costa smooth, prominent, shiny at back, ending just below or in the apex or rarely filling the apiculus; upper cells 5-9 µm wide, irregularly rounded to hexagonal rounded, smooth, flat to moderately bulging, thick- to thin-walled; lower cells about 8-10 µm wide, subquadrate to hexagonal-rounded, thick-walled, flat to bulging, usually strongly unipapillose, sometimes a few cells tuberculate; basal cells near the costa enlarged, hyaline-yellowish and thin-walled, those at the margins forming a border of several rows of long, thick-walled cells in the lower 1/3-1/2, usually with 1 row of long, thin-walled cells at the leaf base. Dioicous. Perigonia terminating short branches. Setae 4-13 mm long, thick, smooth; capsules 1.8-3.4 mm long, narrowly oblong-ovoid to broadly cylindric, gradually narrowed to the seta, tan to black, shiny, smooth to irregularly ridged when old and dry; exothecial cells elongate-rhomboidal, heavily cutinized, with 3-6 inner layers of thin-walled cells; stomata uncommon, in the neck of the urn; peristome consisting of a low, irregularly papillose membrane, with 1-2 additional cell layers. Spores 20-38 µm, isosporous, coarsely papillose. Calyptrae plicate, naked, irregularly split into 9-11 divisions, less than half the capsule length, with the beak half the calyptra length.
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Discussion
Fig. 479
G. chimborazensis (Spruce ex Mitt.) Florsch., Mosses Suriname 215. 1964.
Macromitrium chimborazense Spruce ex Mitt., J. Linn. Soc, Bot. 12: 218.1869.
Micromitrium chimborazense (Struct ex Mitt.) Jaeg., Ber. Thatigk. St.
Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 1872-73: 157.1874.
Macromitrium hmprocarpum C. Müll. ex Ren. & Card., Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belgique 31(1): 158. 1893 (fide Grout, 1944).
Micromitrium lamprocarpum (C. Müll. ex Ren. & Card.) Par., Index Bryol. ed. 2, 3: 241. 1905.
Macromitrium undosum Card., Rev. Bryol. 36: 108. 1909.
M. densifolium Card., Rev. Bryol. 36: 108. 1909, non Ther., 1909.
M. pycnophyllum Card., Rev. Bryol. 37: 13. 1910 (fide Grout, 1944).
Micromitrium undosum (Card.) Grout, Bryologist 47: 4. 1944.
Craspedophyllumundosum (Card.) Grout, N. Amer. Fl. 15A: 41.1946.
Groutiella undosa (Card.) Crum & Steere, Bryologist 53: 147. 1950.
Groutiella chimborazensis is separated from other Mexican species by more or less lanceolate, sharply acuminateapiculate to narrowly obtuse leaves. The leaf tips are never fragile as in G. tomentosa, In both G. apiculata and G. tumidula the leaf apex is abruptly contracted to a mucro or apiculus.
Groutiella undosa and G. chimborazensise cannot be separated. Groutiella undosa has been characterized by lighter capsules and rugose-undulate leaves with more numerous, elongate basal cells and more strongly bulging upper cells. All these characters are variable. S o m e leaves on all plants are somewhat undulate, particularly the older ones. More strongly bulging upper cells tend to be correlated with undulate leaves, but not to the extent of usabihty. The difference in elongation of basal cells cannot be demonstrated. Both species have a well-developed basal leaf border extending 1/3-1/2 up the leaf. The capsule color varies from tan to black in the same population. The collections that have been named G. undosa, in general, have broader, more abruptly apiculate, and more undulate leaves; however, there are so many intermediate specimens that it is better to consider the taxa synonymous. Groutiella wagneriana (C. Müll.) Crum & Steere, a South American species perhaps close to G. apiculata, should be excluded from the Mexican flora. T he leaves are small (1-1.4 mm long), ligulate, obtusely apiculate, with smooth cells. The capsules are 1.4-1.7 mm long and setae 3-4 mm long.
Groutiella chimborazensis can be divided into two subspecies. In ssp. chimborazensis about 15-30 cells on either side of the costa at the leaf insertion are usually enlarged, hyaline or yellowish, and thin-walled; just above these are thick-walled, clear cells ranging from nearly flat to tuberculate. The leaves are bordered in the lower third to half by elongate cells. Near the base the border is composed of 5-10 rows of very long, thick-walled cells and one outer row of thin-walled, hyaline cells. The upper cells vary from flat to bulging and from 5 to 9 µm wide. The leaves are more or less shiny and usually have a sharply pointed apex.
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Distribution
On trunks of trees and rocks in montane forests, the most common species of the genus in Mexico; Chiapas, Guerrero, Jalisco, Mexico, Michoacan, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, Veracruz.—Mexico; Central America; West Indies; northern South America.
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