Entodon macropodus (Hedw.) Müll.Hal.
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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
Entodontaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants medium-sized to relatively robust, in lustrous, mostly bright-green, sometimes yellowish, soft, flat, often extensive mats. Stems creeping, to ca. 10 cm long, but usually somewhat shorter, subpinnately branched, the branches relatively short, complanate-foliate; in cross-section with 2-3 rows of small thick-walled often colored cells surrounding gradually larger thinner-walled cells, central strand large, of very small thin-walled cells, often disintegrating in older stems leaving a hollow cylinder; pseudoparaphyllia foliose; axillary hairs with a single short brown basal cell and 3 elongate hyaline distal cells. Stem and branch leaves similar but stem leaves somewhat larger and broader than branch leaves, crowded, branch leaves erect to spreading, not contorted when dry, oblong-lanceolate to oblong-ovate, usually widest directly above alar region, 1.4-2 mm long, acute, concave, constricted at insertion; margins serrulate above, entire below, plane; costa none or very short and double; cells linear, smooth, thin-walled, becoming shorter in the extreme apex; alar cells gradually differentiated, numerous, quadrate to subquadrate, ± differentiated across entire insertion. Asexual propagula none. Autoicous. Perichaetia large, along stems; leaves convolute with spreading apices, oblong-lanceolate, 2-2.6 mm long, gradually long-acuminate, concave; margins subserrulate above, entire below, plane; costa none; cells linear, smooth, thin-walled, becoming lax and rectangular toward the insertion; alar cells not differentiated. Setae elongate, slender, smooth, yellow, 1-3 cm long, flexuose; capsules erect, symmetric, long-cylindric, 2-4 mm long; exothecial cells rounded-rectangular, thin- to firm-walled, becoming shorter and thicker-walled toward the mouth; annulus none; operculum bluntly short-rostrate; exostome teeth narrowly triangular, reddish, not shouldered, narrowly bordered, on both surfaces irregularly striate throughout, not trabeculate at back, usually perforate; endostome with a very low, striate basal membrane, segments striate to coarsely papillose below, papillose at extreme apex, linear, keeled, narrowly perforate, mostly shorter than the teeth, cilia none. Spores spherical, finely papillose, 12-16 µm diam. Calyptrae cucullate, naked, smooth.
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Discussion
1. Entodon macropodus (Hedw.) Müll. Hal., Linnaea 18: 707. 1845; Neckera macropoda Hedw., Sp. Musc. Frond. 207. 1801; Hypnum macropodum (Hedw.) Poir. in Steud., Nomencl. Bot. 2: 214. 1824, nom. inval. in syn.; Stereodon macropodus (Hedw.) Mitt., J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. Suppl. 1: 106. 1859; Cylindrothecium macropodum (Hedw.) Sulk, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 5: 284. 1861. Plate 112, figures 1-8 Cylindrothecium drummondii Bruch & Schimp. in Bruch, Schimp. & W. Gümbel, Bryol. Eur. 5(fasc. 46-47, Monogr. 1): 114. 1851, nom. nud., Bruch & Schimp. ex Sull. in A. Gray, Manual, ed. 2, 664. 1856; Entodon drummondii (Sull.) A. Jaeger, Ber. Thätigk. St. Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 1876-77: 282. 1878. Discussion. Entodon macropodus is a very common species in the Greater Antilles. It is recognized by its relatively robust, often bright-green, complanate plants. The leaves are oblong-ovate and widest just above the alar region, with an acute apex. The alar cells are gradually differentiated and usually reach the middle of the insertion; the costa is either very short or absent. The peristome, though, is the species marker most easily checked since plants are usually fertile. The exostome teeth are striate on both surfaces, but with the striae running different directions on the front and back, thus giving a cross-hatched appearance with a light microscope. The endostome segments are usually also striate. Entodon hampeanus Müll. Hal. might be expected in the Greater Antilles since it ranges from Mexico to the northern Andes and is disjunct in the southern Appalachians of the United States. It differs in an exostome only striate on the front surface and papillose at back; endostomial segments are smooth to finely papillose. The two are gametophytically very similar and sometimes difficult to separate. Entodon hampeanus, though, usually has leaves widest near midleaf, often with obtuse apices, and with a better differentiated alar region. Crum and Bartram’s (1958) report of Entodon pallescens (Müll. Hal.) Mitt, from Jamaica is referred here. The two collections in Mitten’s herbarium (NY) upon which the report is based are not particularly complanate-foliate. Unfortunately there is only one old seta (ca. 2.5 cm long) and no capsules. Initially these collections seemed best referable to E. brevirostris (Besch.) A. Jaeger, a Mexican endemic. This species, like the Jamaica collections, is not strongly complanate-foliate. but it has smaller plants with setae only to 1.5 cm long. Since the Jamaican collections and two more similar ones from Hispaniola occurred toward the upper altitudinal limit of the species, the noncomplanate-foliate habit is considered a minor ecological variant.
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Distribution
Range. Southeastern United States, Mexico to Andean South America, eastern Asia; Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico; usually growing on the bases of trees but also rocks, soil, roadbanks, and logs, in mesic, often calcareous habitats, at 300-1700 m.
United States of America North America| Mexico North America| Venezuela South America| Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| Peru South America| Bolivia South America| Argentina South America| Chile South America| China Asia| Japan Asia| Mongolia Asia| South Korea Asia| North Korea Asia| Taiwan Asia| Cuba South America| Jamaica South America| Haiti South America| Dominican Republic South America| Puerto Rico South America|