Trachyxiphium guadalupense (Brid.) W.R.Buck

  • Authority

    Buck, William R. 2003. Guide to the plants of central french Guiana. Part 3. Mosses. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 76: 1-167.

  • Family

    Pilotrichaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Trachyxiphium guadalupense (Brid.) W.R.Buck

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants small and slender, in ± lustrous, whitish green to golden, mostly thin mats; stems to ca. 4 cm long, irregularly but freely branched, sometimes ± pinnate, ± densely foliate, sometimes complanate-foliate. Leaves sometimes ± contorted when dry, sometimes falcate-secund, flaccid when moist, erect to wide-spreading, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, gradually long-acuminate, the apex sometimes flexuose, ± plicate, shallowly concave, 0.85-1.4(2) x 0.3-0.5 mm; margins usually coarsely serrate in the acumen, all upper marginal cells forming bifid, ± swollen teeth, subentire to serrulate below, plane or erect near midleaf; costa ending 2/3-3/4 the leaf length, ± parallel, subequal, toothed, the teeth often bifid, ± crested in upper half; cells long- hexagonal to linear, 25-60 x 6-9 µm, smooth or prorulose (especially above), thin- to firm-walled, ± porose, scarcely differentiated toward the leaf base except in 2(3) rows across the insertion where shorter, broader, and colored. Polyoicous, but mostly autoicous. Setae smooth or more often slightly roughened below urn, 0.7-2 cm long, ± flexuose, curved at apex; capsules 0.5-1.4 mm long, with a well defined neck. Calyptrae naked or with a few scattered hairs, usually roughened above, occasionally smooth.

  • Distribution

    In non- flooded moist forests, rare, 200-300 m, on old wood, less often on humus or rock.

    French Guiana South America|