Loeskeobryum brevirostre (Brid.) M.Fleisch.
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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
Hylocomiaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants rather robust, coarse, in loose, sprawling, green to golden-brown wefts. Stems prostrate to arcuate, often stoloniferous, subpinnately to irregularly 2-pinnately branched; in cross-section with 3-5 rows of small thick-walled cells surrounding larger thinner-walled cells, central strand of small firm-walled cells; paraphyllia abundant, filamentous, small, hyaline; pseudoparaphyl-lia broadly foliose; axillary hairs with 1(-2) short brown basal cells and (1-)2-3 elongate hyaline distal cells. Stipe leaves sheathing at base, squarrose above, stem leaves erect to erect-spreading when dry, erect-spreading to spreading when moist, broadly ovate to broadly oblong-ovate, 2-3 mm long, long-acuminate with acumen constricted at base, somewhat plicate, auriculate; margins serrate in upper ½, serrulate below, plane; costa double, usually extending to ca. midleaf; cells linear to linear-flexuose, smooth, thick-walled and porose throughout, becoming shorter, broader and thicker-walled toward the insertion; cells across the insertion orange to brown, especially in auricle bases, little differentiated in shape and size from lower leaf cells. Branch leaves erect-spreading, ovate-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, smaller than stem leaves, the ultimate ones 1.2-2 mm long, more gradually short-acuminate than stem leaves, scarcely auriculate; margins serrate above, serrulate below, plane; costa double, usually ending below midleaf; areola-tion similar to stem leaves. [Sporophytes unknown from the West Indies; description based on temperate material.] Perichaetial leaves erect, broadly oblong-lanceolate, 2.75-3.5 mm long, gradually to ± abruptly slenderly long-acuminate; margins serrate to serrulate in acumen, subentire below, plane; costa double, ending ca. 1/3 the leaf length; cells linear, smooth, thick-walled, porose, becoming shorter, broader and colored across the insertion. Setae elongate, slender, smooth, reddish, 1.5-3.5 cm long; capsules inclined, broadly short-cylindric, reddish brown, 2-2.5 mm long; annulus of 1-3 rows of elongate thick-walled cells; operculum stoutly and obliquely short-rostrate, 1-1.5 mm long; exostome teeth on the front surface cross-striolate below, coarsely papillose above; endostome papillose, basal membrane high, segments keeled, broadly perforate, cilia in groups of 2-3, nodulose, shorter than the segments. Spores spherical, finely papillose, 15-20 µm diam. Calyptrae cucullate, naked, smooth.
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Discussion
1. Loeskeobryum brevirostre (Brid.) M. Fleisch. ex Broth. in Engl., Nat. Pflanzenfam., ed. 2, 11: 483. 1925; Hypnum rutabulum var. brevirostre Brid., Muscol. Recent. 2(2): 162. 1801; Hypnum brevirostre (Brid.) Ehrh., Bot. Zeitung (Regensburg) 1:81. 1802; Hylocomium brevirostre (Brid.) Bruch & Schimp. in Bruch, Schimp. & W. Gümbel, Bryol. Eur. 5(fasc. 49-51, Monogr. 1): 178. 1852; Pleurozium brevirostre (Brid.) Kindb., Canad. Rec. Sci. 6: 19. 1894; Loeskeobryum brevirostre (Brid.) M. Fleisch., Nova Guinea 12(Bot., 2): 125. 1914, comb. inval.; Rhytidiadelphus brevirostris (Brid.) Nyholm, II-lustr. Moss Fl. Fennoscandia 2(5): 614. 1965. Plate 133, figures 11-19 Pterobryopsis dentata Thér., Rev. Bryol. Lichénol. 13: 18. 1944; Hylocomium dentatum (Thér.) Steere, Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 11: 164. 1985. Hylocomium giganteum E. B. Bartram, Bryologist 49: 124. 1946; Loeskeobryum giganteum (E. B. Bartram) J. R. Rohrer, J. Hattori Bot. Lab. 59: 251. 1985. Discussion. The large, coarse plants that are subpinnately branched and whose stems and branches are densely covered with small paraphyllia are distinctive for Loeskeobryum brevirostre. I agree with Andrews (1954) that the tropical American material, described by Bartram as Hylocomium giganteum, is the same as more temperate collections. Bartram’s (1946) emphasis of the auriculate stem leaves in the Guatemalan specimen was misguided since this character is well matched by both European and North American collections. Rohrer (1985b) has argued for recognition of the species based primarily on size differences. It is difficult to understand Thériot’s (1944) described material of this taxon as a new species of Pterobryopsis, or Arzeni’s (1954: 37) contention that it is a species of Meteorium.
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Distribution
Range. Eastern North America, Guatemala, Europe; Jamaica, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic); the West Indian collections were growing on the ground, in mossy forests, in the Dominican Republic on the summit of Loma La Vieja, near Constanza, at 2075 m, Ekman 14032 (S), and in Jamaica on the St. Thomas/Portland parish border in the Blue Mountains, Judd 5409a (FLAS).
North America| Europe| Guatemala Central America| Jamaica South America| Dominican Republic South America| West Indies|