Brachythecium albicans (Hedw.) Schimp.
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Authority
Sharp, Aaron J., et al. 1994. The Moss Flora of Mexico. Part Two: Orthotrichales to Polytrichales. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 69 (2)
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Family
Brachytheciaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants medium-sized to robust, in loose, light- to whitish-green mats. Stems long, decumbent, freely branched; branches slender, attenuate, terete or sometimes julaceous. Leaves imbricate when dry, erect-spreading when moist. Stem leaves concave, plicate, 1.7-2.4 x 0.4—1 mm, ovate-lanceolate, slenderly long-acuminate, decurrent; margins plane, recurved at base, entire or nearly so; costa vanishing at midleaf; upper cells fusiform to linear, 32-85 x 5-8 µm; basal cells shorter and broader, 27-50 x 7-13 µm, with walls occasionally pitted; alar cells quadrate to rectangular, numerous, in the decurrencies and extending up the margins, 10-26 x 7-13 µm. Branch leaves 1-2.3 x 0.2-0.6 mm, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, slightly decurrent; margins plane, entire; costa ending at or above the midleaf, occasionally as a dorsal spine. Dioicous. Perichaetial leaves sheathing at base, spreading at the tips, up to 3.3 mm long. Setae 11-20 mm long, red-brown, smooth; capsules inchned to horizontal curved-asymmetric, 1.1-2.1 x 0.6-1 mm; annulus of 1-2 layers of enlarged cells; operculum apiculate; cilia of endostome 2-3, nodose. Spores 10-18 µm, papillose.
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Discussion
Fig. 690
B. albicans (Hedw.) B.S.G., Bryol. Eur. 6(fasc 54). 1853.
Hypnum albicans Hedw., Sp. Muse 251.1801.
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Distribution
On rocks and sandy soil, usually in dry and sometimes grassy places; Nuevo León (Cerro Potosi).—Northeastern Mexico; northwestern United States; Alaska; eastern Canada; Greenland; Europe; Argentina, Falkland Islands, and Chile; Australia and New Zealand.
New Zealand Australia Oceania| Chile South America| Falkland Islands South America| Argentina South America| Europe| Greenland North America| Canada North America| United States of America North America| Mexico North America|