Pterigynandrum filiforme Hedw.

  • 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

    Pterigynandraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Pterigynandrum filiforme Hedw.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants small and slender, in low, yellow-green to brownish mats. Stems elongate, prostrate; branches terete or julaceous, often curved and very slender. Brood bodies common in leaf axils, brownish, small, stalked, ovoid, 2-3-celled. Branch leaves sometimes smaller than stem leaves, erect to imbricate, concave, elliptic, oblong-ovate, or ovate, gradually or abruptly tapered, obtuse or more commonly acute, 0.4—1.0 mm long; margins plane to reflexed or narrowly recurved in the lower half, serrulate above; costa short and double, sometimes ending above the leaf middle, rarely single; cells short-rhomboidal to oblong-hexagonal, straight or flexuose, ± thick-walled, 3-5:1, papillose at back with large, conspicuous papillae usually at both ends; alar cells subquadrate in small groups. Setae yellow-brown to orange, 8-10 mm long; capsules 1-2 mm long; exostome teeth ± hyaline, lanceolate, relatively short, smooth or variously ornamented; endostome smooth, with narrow segments from a very low basal membrane. Spores 11-13 µm. (Sporophytes unknown in Mexico.)

  • Discussion

    Fig. 634

    P. filiforme Hedw., Sp. Muse 81. 1801.

    The species is characterized by julaceous branches and elliptic leaves with short cells conspicuously papillose at both ends.

    Pterigynandrum filiforme var. mexicanum Ther. has markedly curved-secund leaves. It has been shifted to the Hypnaceae, as Taxiphyllum mexicanum (Ther.) Robins., but in this work, it appears in the Sematophyllaceae, as Horridohypnum mexicanum (Ther.) Buck.

  • Distribution

    On exposed roots, bases oftrees, and dry, shaded rocks; Nuevo Leon (near summit of Cerro Potoso--Mexico; circumpolar, in North America from Greenland to Wisconsin and in the mountains south to North Carolina, also in the Interior Highlands (Missouri) and in the west from Montana to British Columbia.

    United States of America North America| Greenland North America| Wisconsin United States of America North America| North Carolina United States of America North America|