Braunia secunda (Hook.) Bruch & Schimp.

  • Authority

    Sharp, Aaron J., et al. 1994. The Moss Flora of Mexico. Part Two: Orthotrichales to Polytrichales. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 69 (2)

  • Family

    Hedwigiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Braunia secunda (Hook.) Bruch & Schimp.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Plants about 5-10 cm long; branches often curved. Leaves 1.5-2 mm long, imbricate to erect-spreading when dry, spreading to wide-spreading when moist, obscurely to rather strongly plicate, shortly acuminate; margins revolute only near the base or sometimes in the lower 1/2 or nearly to the apex, slightly erose at the tip. Autoicous or polygamous (autoicous, paroicous, rarely synoicous on the same plants or tufts). Setae (5—)7—15(—18) mm long; capsules 2-2.2 mm long, narrowly ovoid-cyhndric from a very short neck (tapered from the base to a narrow mouth), irregularly ftirrowed, brown below, shiny red-brown at the mouth. Spores 20-23 µm.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 497a-f

    B. secunda (Hook.) B.S.G., Bryol. Eur. 3(fasc. 29/30). 1846.

    Hedwigia secunda Hook., Musci Exot. 1: pl. 46. 1818.

    Neckera secunda (Hook.) C. Mull., Syn. Muse. Frond. 2: 103. 1850.

    Braunia andrieuxii Lor., Moosstud. 164. 1864.

    B. plicata var. canescens Card., Rev. Bryol. 38: 38. 1911.

    B. secunda var. andrieuxii (Lor.) Ther., Smithsonian Misc. Collect. 78(2): 24. 1926.

    B. secunda var. crassiretis Ther., Smithsonian Misc. Collect. 78(2): 24. 1926.

    This species is not difficult to recognize on the basis of short leaf tips and elongate, furrowed capsules evenly tapered from the base to the narrow mouth. The leaves are normally short-pointed and only obscurely plicate, and the leaf margins are recurved only toward the base. However, they can be quite strongly plicate and the margins revolute nearly throughout. The leaves of stoloniform branches are commonly slendertipped or even piliform-tipped, and occasionally the leaves of well-formed branches tend to be hair-pointed, especially in specimens referred to the var. canescens. Mexican records of B. plicata (Mitt.) Jaeg., a South American species, can perhaps also be included in B. secunda.

  • Distribution

    On shaded or exposed cliffs and boulders at moderate to high altitudes (1700-4100 m); Aguascalientes, Baja California, Chihuahua, Distrito Federal, Durango, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico, Michoacan, Morelos, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Zacatecas.— Mexico to northern Argentina; Dominican Republic; Arizona (Sta. Cruz Co.); West Texas (Brewster and Jeff Davis Cos.); also reported from Africa and India.

    Africa| India Asia| United States of America North America| Dominican Republic South America| South America| Central America| Mexico North America|