Gymnostomum aeruginosum Sm.

  • Authority

    Sharp, Aaron J., et al. 1994. The Moss Flora of Mexico. Part One: Sphagnales to Bryales. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 69 (1): 1-452.

  • Family

    Pottiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Gymnostomum aeruginosum Sm.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Stems up to 27 mm high, sometimes red-tomentose. Propagula rare, o n branched stalks in leaf axils, spherical to obovoid or spindle-shaped, consisting of 5-10 cells. Leaves small and distant below, rarely crowded above, when dry erect or weakly spreading, sometimes incurved, (0.3-)0.5-0.8(-1.1) mm long, the base not much differentiated or elliptic, little-sheathing, and not decurrent (except occasionally at the costa); costa with 1 or 2 stereid bands; upper cells often in longitudinal rows that criss-cross beyond the tip of the costa, subquadrate, (6-)7-10(-12) µm wide, often seeming wrinkled in section because of hollow papillae; basal cells somewhat differentiated across the leaf base or more differentiated and extending upward along the costa, hyaline or yellowish, smooth, scarcely broader than the upper cells, rectangular, 2-4:1, thin- or thick-walled. Setae 3-6 mm long; capsules 0.5-0.8 mm long; annulus of (1-)2-3(-4) layers of transversely rectangular or rarely subquadrate, reddish or yellowish, weakly vesiculose cells. Spores 9-12 µm, essentially smooth.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 184

    G. aeruginosum Sm., Fl. Brit. 3: 1163. 1804.

    G. mpestre Schleich. ex Schwaegr., Sp. Muse. Suppl. 1(1): 31.1811.

    G. calcareumNees, Hornsch. & Sturm, Bryol. Germ. 1: 53. 1823.

    Anoectangium arizonicum Bartr. in Grout, Moss Fl. N. Amer. 1(3): 192. 1938.

    Gymnostomum aeruginosum is easily mistaken for Molendoa sendtneriana when small and sterile, but the latter has leaves usually arranged in distinct spirals, and the papillae are sohd.

    Gyroweisia tenuis (Hedw.) Schimp. (of the northern United States), with similar gametophytes, has larger capsules, shortconic opercula, and a persistent annulus of distinctly vesiculose cells.

  • Distribution

    On moist calcareous or volcanic rock or soil at 1700-2900 m elev.; Chiapas, Coahuila, Distrito Federal, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potosi, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Veracruz.—Mexico to South America; West

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