Porotrichum cobanense Müll.Hal.

  • Authority

    Sharp, Aaron J., et al. 1994. The Moss Flora of Mexico. Part Two: Orthotrichales to Polytrichales. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 69 (2)

  • Family

    Neckeraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Porotrichum cobanense Müll.Hal.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants up to 7 cm high, irregularly branched from a stipitate base; branches flattened, often blunt. Stipe leaves spreading to squarrose, crowded to remote, triangular to ovate, acuminate. Frond leaves laxly arranged, complanate, oblongligulate, short-acuminate and apiculate, typically striolate when dry; margins denticulate in the upper half, serrate at the tip; costa ending above the midleaf, often 3/4 the leaf length, strong, often spurred at the apex; cells thin-walled, oblonghexagonal to oblong-rhomboidal at the apex, gradually longer toward the base. Setae u p to 28 mm long; capsules 2 mm long.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 568 d-g

    P. cobanense C. Müll., Bull. Herb. Boissier 5: 202. 1879.

    P. undulatulumC. Müll., Bull. Herb. Boissier 5: 203. 1879.

    P. pringlei Card., Rev. Bryol. 37: 8. 1910.

    Thamnium cobanense (C. Müll.) Williams, Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 16: 24. 1912.

    Porotrichum cobanense resembles P. longirostre in habit of growth, but the finely striolate branch leaves (when dry) and cell walls with thinner, evenly thickened walls are distinctive. Bartram (1949b) emphasized the blunt branch tips and the short upper cells ofleaves; however, neither character is constant. Porotrichum cobanense shows a greater preference for non-corticolous substrates than P. longirostre. W h en it occurs on boulder faces or stream banks, it has a looser, less dendroid or frondose aspect. (For additional notes, see D. K. Smith 1985b.)

    Sastre-De Jesus (1987) referred P. cobanense to the synonymy of P. korthalsianum (Dozy & Molk.) Mitt.

  • Distribution

    On rocks, less commonly on stream banks and tree bases, between 1250 and 3300 m alt.; Chiapas, Distrito Federal, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Oaxaca, Puebla, Tamaulipas, Veracruz.—Mexico; Central America; West Indies.

    West Indies| Central America| Mexico North America|