Porotrichodendron superbum (Taylor) Broth.

  • 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

    Lembophyllaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Porotrichodendron superbum (Taylor) Broth.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants 2.5-10 cm high, pale-green or yellowish, erect and 1-pinnate from a stipitate base or erect-ascending and irregularly 1-2-pinnate and often scarcely stipitate. Branches terete, often ± cuspidate-tipped but more often slenderly flagellatetapered, sometimes with axillary flagellate branches as well. Stipe leaves ± scarious, erect-appressed. Leaves of upper stem and branches erect-spreading, often slightly striate when dry, concave, 0.7-1.4 mm long, oblong-ovate, broadly acute or obtuse to nearly rounded and ± apiculate; margins erect (or ± incurved above), irregularly serrate at the tip, serrulate in the upper 1/2 or less; costa ending above the leaf middle, often 2/3-3/4 the leaf length; uppermost cells short and rhombic or oblong-rhomboidal, the others linear-rhomboidal. Setae 15-20 mm long; capsules about 1.5-2 mm long; operculum up to 2 mm long.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 571

    P. superbum (Tayl.) Broth., Rev. Bryol. 47: 16. 1921.

    Leskea superba Tayl., London J. Bot. 5: 61. 1846.

    Porotrichum superbum (Tayl.)Mitt., J. Linn. Soc, Bot. 12: 459. 1869.

    The plants show considerable variability in branching. Most often they are irregularly branched from near the base and bear an abundance of flagelliform branches, as axillary shoots or long, tapered branch tips. Smaller, more obviously stipitate specimens are much like P. bertrandii (Ren. & Card.) Broth, (of Haiti and the Dominican Republic), which has narrower, less concave leaves with broadly acute tips (and apparently no flagelliform branches or branch tips).

  • Distribution

    On trunks of trees, less commonly on logs, at 1300-2900 m alt.; Chiapas, Oaxaca, Veracruz.—Mexico; Guatemala and Belize; northern South America; Dominican Republic.

    Mexico North America| Guatemala Central America| Belize Central America| Brazil South America| French Guiana South America| Suriname South America| Guyana South America| Venezuela South America| Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| Dominican Republic South America|