Entodon serrulatus Mitt.

  • Authority

    Buck, William R. 1998. Pleurocarpous mosses of the West Indies. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 82: 1-400.

  • Family

    Entodontaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Entodon serrulatus Mitt.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants medium-sized, in lustrous, mostly yellow-green to golden, often bronze-tinged, soft, flat mats. Stems creeping, to ca. 5 cm long, densely and irregularly pinnately branched, the branches relatively short, ± complanate-foliate; in cross-section with 2-4 rows of small thick-walled often colored cells surrounding abruptly larger thinner-walled cells, central strand none or very small; 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-spreading, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 1.5-2.1 mm long, acuminate, often ± abruptly so, concave; margins serrulate above, entire below, plane; costa short and double; cells linear, smooth, thin-walled, not particularly shorter in the extreme apex; alar cells ± abruptly differentiated, numerous, quadrate to short-rectangular, reaching the costa in almost all leaves. Asexual propagula none. Autoicous. [Sporo-phytes not known from the West Indies; description based on Mexican material.] Perichaetia large, along stems; leaves convolute. Setae elongate, slender, smooth, yellow, 0.7-1.4 cm long; capsules erect, symmetric, long-cylindric, ca. 2 mm long; annulus none; operculum bluntly conic-rostrate; exostome teeth linear-triangular, reddish, not shouldered, narrowly bordered, on the front surface cross-striolate below, papillose above, not or slightly trabeculate at back; endostome coarsely and densely papillose, with a low basal membrane, segments linear, keeled, narrowly perforate, mostly shorter than the teeth, cilia none. Spores spherical, papillose, 20-25 µm diam. Calyptrae cucullate, naked, smooth.

  • Discussion

    2. Entodon serrulatus Mitt., J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 12: 632. 1869; Cylindrothecium serrulatum (Mitt.) Paris, Index Bryol. 303. 1894. Plate 113, figures 1-6 Cylindrothecium stenocarpum Schimp. ex Besch., Mém. Soc. Nat. Sci. Cherbourg 16: 238. 1872; Entodon stenocarpus (Besch.) A. Jaeger, Ber. Thätigk. St. Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 1876-77: 290. 1878. Discussion. Entodon serrulatus is characterized by indistinctly complanate plants with lanceolate, acuminate leaves. The alar cells extend to the costa in almost all leaves. The exostome is striate only below and the endostome is densely papillose. The lanceolate leaves preclude confusion with the other two Antillean Entodon species. However, it is close to E. jamesonii (Taylor) Mitt., of Mexico to Andean South America. That species, though, has dimorphic branch leaves and only in the narrow ones do the alar cells reach the costa; the exostome is striate throughout and the endostome is smooth to lightly papillose.

  • Distribution

    Range. Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica; Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic); known from three collections growing on bases of trees or rocks, in moist but exposed habitats, often near streams, at 1300-2000 m.

    Mexico North America| Guatemala Central America| Costa Rica South America| Haiti South America| Dominican Republic South America|