Zygodon liebmannii 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
Orthotrichaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants up to 1 cm high, slender, light-green above, darker-green with branched rhizoids below, forming loose tufts. Stems simple to irregularly branched. Brood bodies oblongclavate, consisting of about 7-8 cells, with both transverse and longitudinal walls. Leaves imbricate-erect and slightly twisted when dry, erect-spreading to spreading, straight to ± slightly recurved and not undulate when moist, ± keeled below, 0.7-1.7 mm long, ligulate-lanceolate to narrowly ovate-lanceolate, broadly but sharply to bluntly acute, sometimes ending in a short apiculus, not or slightly decurrent; margins entire, rarely with 1 or 2 teeth near the apex, plane above, ± reflexed below; costa ending just below the apex, the back surface covered with papillose, quadrate cells in the upper 1/3 to 2/3; upper cells 7-10 µm, irregularly rounded-hexagonal, moderately thick-walled, with 2-5 small, rounded papillae per cell; basal cells few, elongate-rectangular near the costa, becoming irregularly quadrate at the margins, smooth. Dioicous. Perigonia large and budlike, terminal on short, clavate plants. Setae 1.5-3.5 mm long; capsules 0.7-1 mm long, fusiform-ovoid to ovoid-cylindric when mature, cylindric and ± constricted beneath the mouth when old and dry, strongly 8-ribbed the entire length, contracted to the seta through a slender neck; operculum long-rostrate; exothecial cells differentiated into bands; stomata in the neck and lower portion ofthe urn; peristome double; exostome teeth 8, often divided into 16, finely papillose-striate, often truncate and recurved with age; endostome rudimentary, consisting of 8 smooth, short segments, often not present. Spores 10-15 µm, lightly papillose. Calyptrae smooth, cucullate, naked.
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Discussion
Müll. Fig. 452g-l
Z. liebmannii Schimp. ex C. Miill., Syn. Muse. Frond. 1: 673. 1849.
Z. affinis Schimp. ex Besch., Mem. Soc. Sci. Nat. Cherbourg 16: 186. 1872, non Dozy & Molk. ex Bosch. & Lac, 1859.
Z. mexicanus Jaeg., Ber. Thatigk. St. Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 1872-73: 112. 1874.
No characters of the gametophyte can be safely used to distinguish the species. It is characterized, however, by a well-developed exostome of 8 teeth (sometimes divided to 16) and a rudimentary endostome of 8 segments. Zygodon liebmannii is small, with plants less than 1 cm high and leaves less than 1.7 mm long. T h e leaves are imbricate-erect when dry, and the upper leaf margins are entire, with the costa not particularly prominent (and thus the leaves are not as keeled as in other Zygodon species). Zygodon viridissimus has no peristome and, when typical, is larger, with more twisted leaves; however, small sterile specimens are probably indistinguishable from sterile Z. liebmannii.
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Distribution
Rare; on branches and in crevices of tree trunks at about 2400 m; Hidalgo, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Puebla.—Mexico; reported from Ecuador and Chile.
Mexico North America| Ecuador South America| Chile South America|