Groutiella tomentosa (Hornsch.) Wijk & Margad.

  • Authority

    Sharp, Aaron J., et al. 1994. The Moss Flora of Mexico. Part Two: Orthotrichales to Polytrichales. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 69 (2)

  • Family

    Orthotrichaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Groutiella tomentosa (Hornsch.) Wijk & Margad.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants up to 2 cm high, yellow-green above, green to reddish-brown below, in spreading, dense mats. Stems creeping, with numerous, erect branches, covered with red-brown tomentum. Leaves ± undulate, contorted to spirally-twisted, with the upper portions erect when dry, the upper leaves erect-spreading to spreading and lower leaves spreading to wide-spreading and ± undulate when moist, 1.5-3 mm long, lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, or ovate-lanceolate, narrowed to a long, linear, rigid, fragile subula or cusp, or the lower leaves sometimes sharply acute, with the costa ending near the apex; margins entire above, denticulate because of projecting cell ends below, plane; costa prominent, vanishing in the subula (or in lower leaves often ending near the apex); upper cells 3-7 µm wide, irregularly-rounded to subelliptichexagonal, smooth to slightly bulging, with ± thick walls, ± multistratose in the fragile portion; lower cells short-rectangular or irregularly-hexagonal, near the costa smooth to slightly bulging, and thicker-walled; cells at the basal margins elongate and extending 1/3-1/2 way up the leaf as a border, those in the outer row sometimes thin-walled, in the inner rows elongate, thick-walled, and ± nodose; basal cells near the costa enlarged, thin-walled, and hyaline or yellowish. Dioicous. Setae 5-11 mm long, dark-red; capsules 2.2-3.5 mm long, oblong- to short-cylindric, gradually tapering to the seta, dark-purplish or chestnut-brown, obscurely plicate the entire length, sometimes wrinkled or smooth, the wall 4-5 cell layers thick; stomata present at base ofthe urn; peristome consisting of a 3-layered rudimentary membrane, 1 layer usually coarsely papillose above, the outer layer smooth. Spores 22-32 µm, isosporous, finely papillose. Calyptrae obscurely plicate, naked, split or lobed at base, covering not much more than the operculum, about 2 mm long.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 481

    G. tomentosa (Hornsch.) Wijk & Marg., Taxon 9: 51. 1960.

    Macromitrium tomentosum Hornsch. in Mart., Fl. Brasil. 1(2): 21.1840.

    Schlotheimia goniorrhyncha Dozy & Molk. in Miquel, PI. Jungh. 3: 338. 1854.

    Macromitrium goniorrhynchum (Dozy & Molk.) Mitt., J. Linn. Soc, Bot. Suppl. 1:53. 1859.

    M. fragile Mitt., J. Linn. Soc, Bot. 12:218. 1869, non Hampe, 1847.

    Micromitrium prorepens Schimp. ex Besch., Mem. Soc. Sci. Nat.

    Cherbourg 16: 191. 1872, nom. nud. in syn.

    M. schlumbergeri Schimp. ex Besch., Mem. Soc. Sci. Nat. Cherbourg 16: 191. 1872.

    Macromitrium cylindricum Schimp. ex Besch., Mem. Soc. Sci. Nat. Cherbourg 16: 191. 1872, nom. nud. in syn.

    Micromitrium goniorrhynchum (Dozy & Molk.) Jaeg., Ber. Thatigk. St. Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 1872-73: 157. 1874.

    M. fragile Jaeg., Ber. Thatigk. St. Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 1872-73: 157.1874.

    Macromitrium andamaniae C. Miill. ex Par., Index Bryol. Suppl. 236. 1900, nom. nud.

    M. andamanum C. Miill. ex Card., Rev. Bryol. 28: 113. 1901, nom. nud.

    M. schlumbergeri (Schimp. ex Besch.) Broth, in E. & P., Nat. Pfl. 1(3): 479. 1902.

    M. diffractumCard., Rev. Bryol. 28: 113. 1901 (fideFleischer, 1904).

    M. subretusum Broth, ex Fleisch., Musci Fl. Buitenzorg 2: 456, 459. 1904, nom. nud. in syn.

    Micromitrium tomentosum (Hornsch.) Par., Index Bryol. ed. 2,3: 242. 1905.

    Craspedophyllum fragile (Mitt.) Grout, N. Amer. Fl. 15A: 39. 1946.

    Groutiella fragilis (Jaeg.) Crum & Steere, Bryologist 53: 146. 1950.

    G. goniorrhyncha (Dozy & Molk.) Bartr., Philipp. J. Sci. 87(3): 278. 1959.

    G. schlumbergeri (Schimp. ex Besch.) Wijk & Marg., Taxon 9: 51. 1960.

    The border of elongate cells in the lower half of leaves contrasted with rounded-hexagonal inner basal cells places this species in Groutiella (as do the capsules and calyptrae), and the fragile, cuspidate to stoutly subulate leaves distinguish it from other species of the genus. Macromitrium fragilicuspis is easily distinguished by long, tuberculate basal cells. (Schlotheimia angustata Mitt, also has long, fragile leaves and is superficially similar to these two species; it has been collected in Guatemala and is to be expected in southern Mexico.)

    Groutiella chimborazensis is closely related to G. tomentosa but never has long, fragile leaf tips. The leaf set of G. tomentosa, though variable, approaches the undulatetwisted condition in G. chimborazensis.

  • Distribution

    On trees and rocks; Chiapas, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas,Veracruz.-Mexico; Central America; northern South America; Jamaica; Ceylon, Java, New Guinea, and Australia; Philippine Islands

    Mexico North America| Central America| Peru South America| Ecuador South America| Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Guyana South America| Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Brazil South America| Jamaica South America| Ceylon Asia| Indonesia Asia| Papua New Guinea Asia| Australia Oceania| Philippines Asia|