Fabronia ciliaris (Brid.) Brid.
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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
Fabroniaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants small, bright-green when alive, becoming golden in the herbarium, in silky, often dense mats or tufts. Stems creeping or ascending, to ca. 1 cm long, not or scarcely branched, fragile, easily broken on dissection; in cross-section 6-8 cells diam., all ± large, thin-walled, central strand none; paraphyllia none; pseudoparaphyllia foliose; axillary hairs with a single short brown basal cell and a single elongate hyaline distal cell. Stem and branch leaves similar, crowded or ± laxly foliate, erect-spreading when dry, spreading when moist, lanceolate to ovate, 0.4-1 mm long, gradually to abruptly acuminate, not concave, not decurrent; margins entire or dentate, the teeth mostly only above midleaf, plane; costa single, slender, ending near midleaf, sometimes projecting as a small spine; cells rhomboidal, 3-8:1, smooth, thin- to firm-walled, sometimes becoming longer and thicker-walled in the acumen; alar cells quadrate, ± gradually to abruptly differentiated. Asexual propagula none. Autoicous. Perichaetia along stems, small, inconspicuous; leaves erect-spreading, ovate-lanceolate to ovate, 0.4-0.85 mm long, ± abruptly acuminate; margins sparsely dentate, plane; costa absent or single and ending below midleaf; cells long-rhomboidal, smooth, thin- to firm-walled; alar cells differentiated only in larger leaves, then gradually so. Setae short, smooth, yellowish, erect, 1.5-4 mm long; capsules exserted, erect, symmetric, ovoid to short-cylindric, ca. 1 mm long; exothecial cells ± isodiametric, strongly wavy-walled, becoming ± narrowly oblate with straight walls at mouth; annulus not differentiated; operculum umbonate; exostome teeth paired, triangular and blunt, gradually tapered and not shouldered, on the front surface with a ± straight median line and large plates, densely papillose-striolate, not trabeculate at back, papillose. Spores spherical, papillose, 1021 µm diam. Calyptrae cucullate, naked, smooth.
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Discussion
1. Fabronia ciliaris (Brid.) Brid., Bryol. Univ. 2: 171. 1827; Hypnum ciliare Brid., Muscol. Recent. Suppl. 2: 155. 1812. Plate 79 Fabronia octoblepharis Schwägr., Sp. Musc. Frond. Suppl. 1(2): 338. 1816; Pterogonium octoblephare Schleich. ex Schwagr., Sp. Musc. Frond. Suppl. 1(2): 338. 1816, nom. nud. in syn. Discussion. Fabronia ciliaris is characterized by ovate to lanceolate entire to dentate leaves. The marginal teeth are mostly above midleaf The species is extremely variable and occurs from the United States to Chile in the New World. Although many names have been applied to a relatively small amount of morphological diversity, the species is recognizable from the only other Antillean species of Fabronia, F. macroblepharis, by brighter green, broader, more spreading leaves with the marginal dentations mostly above midleaf. Also, in F. ciliaris the perichaetia are small and inconspicuous with erect-spreading leaves. In the West Indies we have two of the three American varieties. If one wishes to recognize them, they may be separated as follows: 1. Leaves lanceolate, long-acuminate; cells in acumen much longer than those at midleaf; margins denticulate to irregularly dentate la. var. wrightii 1. Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acuminate; cells in acumen scarcely longer than those at midleaf; margins entire or with a few teeth lb. var. polycarpa