Lepidopilum amplirete (Sull.) Mitt.
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Authority
Buck, William R. 2003. Guide to the plants of central french Guiana. Part 3. Mosses. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 76: 1-167.
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Family
Pilotrichaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants medium-sized, in lustrous, yellowish green to golden, lax tufts; primary stems short, with erect, mostly simple branches, to ca. 2 cm long, complanate-foliate. Leaves mostly contorted when dry, ± flat when moist, mostly distant, oblong, oblong-ovate, or spatu- late, typically abruptly acute to short-acuminate, 1.4-2.8 x 0.5-1.1 mm; margins sharply serrate to serrulate at apex, distantly serrulate to midleaf, entire below, mostly plane, not or sometimes bordered by 1-2 rows of elongate, narrow cells, most conspicuous (if present) just below apex; costa ending 1/3-1/2 the leaf length; cells oblong-hexagonal to fusiform, 40-70 x 11-17 µm, thin- to firm-walled, in apical 1/4-1/3 of leaf conspicuously shorter than those below, rhomboidal to hexagonal, 2^4(6): 1, becoming short-rectangular across the insertion in 1-3 rows. Asexual propagula common, clustered in leaf axils, 10-12(20)-celled when mature, ca. 0.45(0.85) mm long, occasionally (in very humid habitats) on leaf tips from dedifferentiated laminal cells, clustered, (3)4-6-celled, to ca. 0.13 mm long, bright-green. Dioicous. Setae low-papillose above, smooth below, 0.6-1 cm long; capsules 2 mm long. Calyptrae with hyaline, multiseriate hairs.
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Discussion
Churchill (1988) recognized both L. amplirete and L. cubense as distinct species. In part he separated them on sporophytic features, supposedly unknown in L. amplirete. However, I see no fundamental differences between the two taxa and thus synonymize them.
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Distribution
In non-flooded moist forests, relatively common, 200(500) m, typically on twigs, less often on tree trunks and old wood.
French Guiana South America|