Taxiphyllum taxirameum (Mitt.) M.Fleisch.

  • 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

    Hypnaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Taxiphyllum taxirameum (Mitt.) M.Fleisch.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants in thin to dense mats. Stems up to 5 cm long and (with leaves) 2-4 mm wide, flattened, simple or irregularly branched, dark- to yellow-green. Leaves usually rigid, rather distant (or rarely somewhat imbricate), wide-spreading (or sometimes erect-spreading), generally complanate-foliate, flat or somewhat concave, smooth or plicate, 1-2 mm long, 0.3-0.6 mm wide near the middle, ovate-lanceolate to oblong lanceolate, acuminate or abmptly narrowed to an acute or rarely subobtuse apex; margins narrowly recurved almost to the apex (or sometimes plane), sermlate to serrate throughout; costa lacking or short and double (with 1 branch as much as 1/3 the leaf length); cells 66-120 µm long, 3-7 µm wide, smooth or papillose at back because of projecting ends; alar cells long- to short-rectangular or rarely quadrate, in 1-3 rows, with 1-5 cells (or rarely more) in a marginal row. Sex organs and sporophytes not seen from Mexico.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 760

    T. taxirameum (Mitt.) Fleisch., Musci Fl. Buitenzorg 4: 1435. 192.

    Stereodon taxirameus Mitt., J. Linn. Soc, Bot. Suppl. 1: 105. 1859.

    Isopterygiumplanissimum Mitt., J. Linn. Soc, Bot. 12: 498. 1869.

    Rhynchostegium geophilum Aust., Musci Appal. 345. 1870.

    Isopterygium geophilum (Aust.) Jaeg., Ber. Thatigk. St. Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 1876-77: 437. 1878.

    I. taxirameum (Mitt.) Jaeg., Ber. Thatigk. St. Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 1876-77: 439. 1878.

    Hypnum geophilum (Aust.) Lesq. & James, Man. Mosses N. Amer. 358.1884.

    Isopterygium elegantifronsC. Müll., Hedwigia 37: 251. 1898.

    I. cavemicoia Card., Rev. Bryol. 37: 56. 1910.

    Plagiothecium geophilum (Aust.) Grout, Mosses Hand-Lens & Micro. 370. 1910.

    Taxiphyllum geophilum (Aust.) Fleisch., Musci Fl. Buitenz. 4: 1435. 1922.

    T. planissimum (Mitt.) Broth, in E. & p., Nat. Pfl. ed. 2,11: 463. 1925.

    T. cavernicola (Card.) Ther., Rev. Bryol. Lichenol. 5: 109. 1932.

    Plagiothecium planissimum (Mitt.) Bartr., Bryologist 49: 122. 1946.

    This is by far the most common species of Taxiphyllum in Mexico. The plants are extremely variable throughout the range of the species, in degree of complanation and plication of leaves and sharpness ofthe leaf apex. The leaves are normally distinctly complanate-fohate and somewhat remote (at least not crowded and conspicuously overlapping). The alar cells are often variously rectangular and only rarely quadrate.

  • Distribution

    On shaded, calcareous rock or soil over rock, sometimes on the bases of trees; Chiapas, Chihuahua, Durango, Hidalgo, Jalisco, México, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Tarnaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Zacatecas.-Mexico to Costa Rica and northern South America (Tnnidad, Brazil, Surinam, Columbia, and Ecuador); West Indies; eastern and southwestern United States; southeastern Asia.

    Mexico North America| Central America| Trinidad and Tobago South America| Brazil South America| Suriname South America| Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| West Indies| United States of America North America| Asia|