Rhacocarpus purpurascens (Brid.) Paris
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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
Hedwigiaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants up to 15 cm long, greenish-yellow to reddish. Leaves 1.3-1.5 mm long (not including the hair point), varying from narrowly oblong to rather broadly elliptic, noticeably narrowed above the large auricles (and therefore ± panduriform), ending in a long, slender, flexuose, shiny, yellowish to reddish, subentire or minutely serrulate hair point; alar cells very thick-walled and porose, the walls usually almost completely filling the lumina but sometimes the lumen relatively broad. Perichaetial leaves hair-pointed, the innermost bracts often minutely or rather distinctly notched near the base of the awn. Setae 6-20 mm long; capsules 2 mm long. Spores 23-25 µm.
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Discussion
Fig. 498
R. purpurascens (Brid.) Par., Index Bryol. Suppl. 292. 1900.
Hypnum purpurascens Brid., Muscol. Recent. Suppl. 2: 121. 1812.
Anictangium humboldtiiHook., Pl. Crypt. Plag. Orb. Nov. Aequin. Pl. la. 1816.
Hedwigia humboldtii (Hook.) Hook., Musci Exot. 2: pl. 137. 1819.
Harrisonia humboldtii (Hook.) Spreng., Syst. Veg. 4: 145. 1827.
Neckera humboldtii (Hook.) C. Mull., Syn. Muscol. Frond. 2: 102. 1850.
Rhacocarpus humboldtii (Hook.) Lindb., Ofvers. Forh. Kongl. Svenska Vetensk.-Akad. 19: 603. 1863.
Harrisonia purpurascens (Brid.) C. Miill., Osterr. Bot. Z. 47: 392. 1897.
Rhacocarpus is so distinctive in every way that it is difficult to understand why it has been included by most authors in the Hedwigiaceae, which it resembles only in lacking a costa and a peristome. T h e prostrate habit, pinnate branching, fiddle-shaped leaves, and linear cells appearing to be densely and minutely papillose over the side walls, the strongly differentiated border, and the well-marked auricles consisting of short, dark cells with thick, porose walls demand familial recognition. The immersed position of the stomata seems especially significant in view ofthe rarity of immersed stomata among mosses. Delgadillo (1982c) has demonstrated that the leaf cells of R. purpurascens have a wall reticulum and a few dorsal projections that may, under SEM, be interpreted as papillae.
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Distribution
On wet soil, humus, and cliffs or boulders at relatively high altitudes (about 3200 m), in shaded or more or less exposed places in pine-oak forests near timberline; Hidalgo, Oaxaca (Sierra de Juarez).—Mexico; Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama; Dominica, St. Kitts, the Dominican Republic, and Guadeloupe; Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, and Brazil; Juan Fernandez and western Patagonia; Dutch New Guinea; Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and Campbell Island; Madagascar, Reunion, Tanzania, Ke
Mexico North America| Guatemala Central America| Costa Rica South America| Panama Central America| Dominica South America| Saint Kitts and Nevis South America| Dominican Republic South America| Guadeloupe South America| Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Bolivia South America| Peru South America| Brazil South America| Chile South America| Indonesia Asia| Australia Oceania| New Zealand