Pireella cymbifolia (Sull.) Cardot

  • Authority

    Buck, William R. 1998. Pleurocarpous mosses of the West Indies. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 82: 1-400.

  • Family

    Pterobryaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Pireella cymbifolia (Sull.) Cardot

  • Description

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    Species Description - Plants small to medium-sized, to ca. 3 cm tall, rarely taller, in green to golden, thin to dense, epiphytic colonies. Primary stems creeping, filiform, usually naked or with small, reduced leaves, turning ca. 90° and becoming the upright secondary stem (stipe), the creeping stem continuing by a bud from near the base of the stipe, secondary stems unbranched, sparingly branched or rarely irregularly subpinnate, usually curved when dry, often with flagellate branches; in cross-section with ca. 5 rows of small thick-walled reddish cells surrounding gradually larger firm-walled cells, central strand none; paraphyllia none; pseudoparaphyllia filamentous, numerous; axillary hairs with 2 short brown basal cells and (2-)3 elongate hyaline distal cells. Leaves erect, obscurely ranked, broadly lanceolate, 1.5-2 mm long, ± gradually acuminate, strongly concave, not rounded to the insertion; margins subentire to serrulate above, entire below, plane above, often narrowly recurved below; costa single, subpercurrent to percurrent; cells linear, sometimes flexuose, often prorulose, thin- to firm-walled, not porose, shorter in the acumen, becoming shorter toward the yellowed insertion; alar cells subquadrate, extending up the margins by 6-15 cells. Asexual propagula of 4-7(-12)-celled gemmae clustered in leaf axils, uniseriate, and of microphyllous flagellate branches, mostly simple or little-branched. Dioicous, rarely fertile. Perichaetia inconspicuous; leaves oblong-lanceolate, 0.8-1.4(-1.7) mm long, abruptly acuminate; margins subentire to serrulate in the acumen, entire below, plane; costa none or single but present only in upper 1/2 of leaf and ending in the acumen; cells linear, smooth, firm-walled, somewhat porose, becoming shorter toward the insertion. Setae elongate, smooth, reddish, 6-10 mm long, somewhat flexuose; capsules exserted, erect and symmetric, cylindric, ca. 2 mm long, narrowed at the mouth; exothecial cells subquadrate to short-rectangular, becoming smaller and often oblate at the mouth; annulus not differentiated; operculum not seen, reportedly conic-rostrate; exostome teeth not seen, reportedly smooth, perforate, irregular; endostome rudimentary. Spores not seen, reportedly spherical, finely papillose, 22-28 µm diam. Calyptrae reportedly cucullate, pilose.

  • Discussion

    8. Pireella cymbifolia (Sull.) Cardot, Rev. Bryol. 40: 17. 1913; Pilotrichum cymbifolium Sull. in A. Gray, Manual, ed. 2, 681. 1856; Pterobryon cymbifolium (Sull.) Sull., Icon. Musc. 1: 122. 1864; Pilotrichella cymbifolia (Sull.) A. Jaeger, Ber. Thätigk. St. Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 1875-76: 254. 1877; Neckera cymbifolia (Sull.) Midl. Hal., Flora 58: 92. 1875; Pirea cymbifolia (Sull.) Broth. in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 1(3): 796. 1906. Plate 55, figures 8-13 Pireella denticulata Cardot & Thér. in Cardot, Rev. Bryol. 40: 17. 1913, nom. nud., Cardot & Thér. in Thér., Mem. Soc. Cub. Hist. Nat. “Felipe Poey” 14: 359. 1940. Discussion. Pireella cymbifolia is characterized by appressed “stipe” leaves on scarcely branched plants. The leaf cells are linear, often prorulose, and the alar cells are relatively numerous. The extensive alar differentiation and leaves not rounded to the insertion serve to distinguish it from poorly branched specimens of P pohlii.

  • Distribution

    Range. Florida, Mexico to Panama, Venezuela, Brazil, Trinidad; Bahamas (Abaco, New Providence) Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic), Mona Island, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands (St. John, St. Thomas), St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Guadeloupe; growing on tree trunks and limestone, in humid forests, usually below 500 m.

    United States of America North America| Mexico North America| Central America| Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Brazil South America| Trinidad and Tobago South America| Bahamas South America| Cuba South America| Jamaica South America| Haiti South America| Dominican Republic South America| Puerto Rico South America| Virgin Islands South America| Saint Kitts and Nevis South America| Montserrat South America| Guadeloupe South America|