Rhynchostegium subrusciforme (Müll.Hal.) A.Jaeger

  • 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

    Brachytheciaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Rhynchostegium subrusciforme (Müll.Hal.) A.Jaeger

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants of medium size, in loose, green mats. Stems prostrate, irregularly pinnate; branches erect, tapered. Leaves imbricate to spreading and ± complanate. Stem leaves slightly concave, neither plicate nor decurrent, 1-1.3 x 0.4-0.6 mm, ovate or oblong-ovate, acute or very shortly acuminate; margins serrate above; costa tapered from the base and becoming slender, ending at or slightly above the midleaf, sometimes as an inconspicuous dorsal spine; upper cells linear, 45-75 x 4-8 µm; cells ofthe apex shorter, fusiform, 15-35 x 5-7 µm; basal cells lax in a r o w across the insertion, 20-40 x 6-20 µm; alar cells ± laxly rectangular, 10-25 x 3-10 pm, bordered by narrower cells. Branch leaves 0.4-1.3 x 0.1-0.5 mm, generally blunter. Autoicous. Perichaetial leaves up to 1.6 mm long, tapered to a long, squarrose acumen from a sheathing base. Setae red below, yellow above, smooth, 12-19 mm long; capsules inclined to subpendulous, 0.7-1.5 x 0.4-0.7 mm, oblong-ovate, tapered at the short neck, constricted below the mouth; annulus of 2 layers of inflated cells; operculum conicrostrate, up to 1.3 mm long; cilia of endostome 2-3, long, slender, nodose or appendiculate. Spores 9-14 µm, nearly smooth.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 700

    R. subrusciforme (C. Müll.) Jaeg., Ber. Thatigk. St. Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 1876-77: 377. 1878.

    Hypnum subrusciforme C. Müll., Linnaea 38: 658. 1874.

    ?Rhynchostegium malacocladum Card., Rev. Bryol. 37: 71. 1910.

    Platyhypnidium subrusciforme (C. Müll.) Fleisch., Musci Buitenz. 4: 1537. 1922.

    ?P. malacocladum (Card.) Broth, in E. & P., Nat. Pfl. ed. 2,11: 347. 1925.

    Judging from specimens so named (other than the type) and the original description, it appears that R. malacocladum belongs here in synonymy, as Theriot (1931) indicated.

  • Distribution

    On rocks and logs in moist areas at 700-2200 m elev.; Chiapas, Coahuila, Colima, Distrito Federal, Hidalgo, Mexico, Michoacan, Morelos, Puebla, Tamaulipas, Veracruz.—Mexico; Guatemala.

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