Entosthodon laxus (Hook.f. & Wilson) Mitt.

  • Authority

    Buck, William R. 1987. Bryostephane Steereana: A Collection of Bryological Papers Presented to William Campbell Steere On The Occasion of His 80th Birthday. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 45: 1-749.

  • Family

    Funariaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Entosthodon laxus (Hook.f. & Wilson) Mitt.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants yellowish or bright green, gregarious. Stems pale reddish to reddish-brown, to 15 mm high, branching once by subperigonial innovation, or forking beneath soil surface and producing subperigonial innovations above, in cross-section with 1-2 layers of thick-walled, reddish-brown cortical cells, a hyalodermis and central strand, below with cerise rhizoids. Leaves erect-spreading. Ungulate, 1.5-3.0(-5.0) x 0.6-1.0 mm, plane to weakly concave, entire (or weakly crenulate above), tapered in upper 1/3 to an acute (often broadly so) apex; cells of upper lamina oblong-hexagonal, ca. 70-100(-130) µm × 25-30(-45) µm, longer and more oblong but not thinner-walled below; marginal cells not differentiated (rarely weakly differentiated above); apical cells 25-5 5(-100) µm long; alar cells not differentiated or slightly more pigmented than adjacent cells; costae rather thin and weak, ca. 30-40(-50) µm wide near base, failing ca. 5-10 cells below leaf apex, in cross-section with 1-2 adaxial and one abaxial layer of large cells surrounding a small central group of stereid-like cells. Axillary filaments present. Autoicous. Setae (5-)10-20(-23) mm long, pale brown, twisted to the right in upper portion, very weakly hygroscopic. Capsules erect, symmetric, oblong-obovoid or oblong-pyriform, scarcely constricted below mouth when dry, 1.5-2.5(-3.0) mm, with a well-differentiated neck 1/3 to 1/2 the total capsule length, reddish-brown at maturity; mouth transverse, ca. 3/4 the diameter ofthe capsule (in recently dehisced capsules); exothecial cells with distinct lumina, ca. 2-3:1, averaging 30-40 µm long, in cross-section with anticlinal walls not cuneate (or very weakly so), ca. 6-8 rows isodiametric to oblate and darker at capsule mouth. Opercula mammillate or strongly convex. Peristome double; exostome teeth straight, bright red, to 300 µm high, ca. 50-75 µm wide (often shorter and irregular), tapered to an acute or rounded apex, irregularly baculate-papillose throughout, not or weakly striate, weakly nodulose (lacking appendiculae), scarcely trabeculate, fugacious; endostome rudimentary and fugacious, segments irregular and hyaline, to 120 µm high and 75 µm wide, basal membrane not apparent. Spores (25-)27-32(-35) µm, gemmate to lowly insulate, with elements not or weakly fused. Calyptra mitrate or splitting on one side to become cucuUate, rostrate.

  • Discussion

    Basionym: Gymnostomum (Physcomitrium) laxum Wils. & Hook, f, n. antarct. 2: 399, pl. 151, fig. V, 1-4 1847; Physcomitrium laxum (Wils. & Hook, f) C. Müll., Syn. muse, frond. 2: 546. 1851; Funaria laxa (Wils. & Hook, f) Broth, in Drygalski, Deutsche Sudpolar-Exped. 8: 88. 1906. Lectotype: BCERGUELEN. J. D. Hooker 744. Antarctic Expedition 1839-43 ("Wilson no. 257") (bm-hooker!). Isolectotypes: BM-Hooker!, NY-Mitt.!.

    Synonyms:

    Entosthodon antarcticus C. MiiU., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 5: 7. 1884. Original material: KERGUELEN. Naumann s.n. (H-BR!).

    Funaria (Entosthodon) subattenuata Broth., Ofvrs. Forh. Finska Vetensk.-Soc. 40: 173. 1898. Holotype: NEW ZEALAND. "Swamp at top of Arthur's Pass, 3013 ft., Canterbury," Jan 1888, T. W.N. Beckett 93 (H-BR!). Isotypes: chr-beckett!, CHR-ALLISON!.

    Meesia craigieburnensis R. Br. ter.. Trans. New Zealand Inst. 31: 464, pl. 44, fig. 61. 1898 [1899]. Lectotype: NEW ZEALAND. South island: Marshy ground nr. Broken River, 1887, R. Brown s.n. (BM-Dixon!). Isolectotype: CHR-BROWN!.

    Entosthodon fontanus Herzog, Biblioth. Bot. 87: 71, Fig. 28. 1916. Lectotype: BOLIVIA. " Am Bachsrand bei der Mine Viloco, ca. 4350 m," Oct 1911, Th. Herzog 3214 (je-herzog!).

    Funaria (Entosthodon) cavifolia Card. & Broth., Kongl. Svenska Vetenskapsakad. Handl. 63(10): 33. 1923. Holotype: CHILE. Tierra del Fuego: "Lago Fagnano in alpinus and rivulum" 11 Mar 1908, T. Halle 484 (Expeditio suecica 1907-1909) (s!).

    Physcomitrium benoistii Ther., Rev. Bryol. Lichenol. 9: 22. 1936. Original material: ECUADOR. "Berges ombragees et humides, 4000-4400 m, cours d'eau du Pichincha," 6 Nov 1930, R. Benoist 3172 (NY!).

    Funaria pungens Bartr., Farlowia 2: 311. 1946. Holotype: CHILE. Fuegia occidentales, Fjordo Martinez, Bahia Sarmiento, 18 Feb 1929, H. Roivainen 2358 (FH-BARTRAM!).

    Entosthodon enezuelanus Crum in Magdefrau, Nova Hedwgia 38: 54, fig. 4. 1983. Holotype: VENEZUELA. Merida: Loma redonda (Pico Espejo), river nr. the Laguna de los Anteojos, 3980 m, 1 Apr 1958 K. Magdefrau 626d (MICH!).

    Note 1. A detailed nomenclatural, ecological and phytogeographic consideration of E. laxus is provided by Fife (1987).

  • Distribution

    Distribution: Venezuela (4), Ecuador (5), *Peru (1), Bolivia (6). Material (four specimens) has also been confirmed from southem Chile. Outside South America this species occurs in New Zealand, Australia (Victoria and Tasmania), and on Macquarie, Kerguelen, Crozet, and Marion islands. It exhibits a circumsubantarctic-Andean distribution.

    Venezuela South America| Ecuador South America| Peru South America| Bolivia South America| Chile South America| New Zealand Australia Oceania|