Acroporium estrellae (Müll.Hal.) W.R.Buck & Schäf.-Verw.

Authority

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

Family

Sematophyllaceae

Scientific Name

Acroporium estrellae (Müll.Hal.) W.R.Buck & Schäf.-Verw.

Description

Species Description - Plants small to medium-sized, in mostly lustrous, ± stiff, yellow-green to golden, tufted mats. Stems ± creeping, to ca. 2 cm long, dark-red, freely but irregularly branched, the branches ascending, short, indistinctly cuspidate; in cross-section with 2-3 rows of small thick-walled colored cells surrounding large firm-walled cells, central strand absent; pseudoparaphyllia foliose; axillary hairs with a single rectangular brown basal cell and 2 elongate hyaline distal cells. Stem and branch leaves similar, erect-spreading, subfalcate, narrowly lanceolate-triangular, (1.4-) 1.6-2(-2.6 extralimitally) X ca. 0.2-0.25 mm, gradually acuminate, strongly concave; margins subentire except for a few small teeth at extreme apex and directly above alar region, plane or narrowly recurved below, appearing erect from strong concavity; costa short and double or absent; cells linear, straight to subflexuose, smooth, thick-walled, porose; alar cells 2-4 in each basal angle, curved to the insertion, greatly enlarged and inflated, the inner ones yellow and thick-walled, the outer one hyaline with a thin outer wall, oblong. Asexual propagula none. Autoicous. Perichaetia inconspicuous, on stems and bases of branches; leaves erect, lanceolate, ca. 1.3 mm long, broadly acuminate; margins serrulate above, subentire below, plane; costa mostly none; cells linear, smooth, thick-walled, porose; alar cells not differentiated. Setae elongate, slender, smooth, reddish, 0.6-0.8(-0.9) cm long, not curved below the urn when moist, sometimes ± so when dry; capsules erect when moist, ± inclined when dry, ± symmetric, cylindric, ca. 1.2 mm long; exothecial cells subquadrate, strongly collenchymatous, becoming smaller, oblate and evenly thin-walled in a single row at the mouth; annulus not differentiated; operculum obliquely and slenderly long-rostrate, ca. 1 mm long; exostome teeth narrowly triangular, yellowish, shouldered, bordered, on the front surface with a narrow median furrow, cross-striolate below, cross-striolate with overly papillae at midtooth, coarsely papillose above, trabeculate at back; endostome with a medium-high basal membrane, segments finely papillose, narrow, keeled, not or narrowly perforate, shorter than the teeth, cilia single, sometimes rudimentary. Spores spherical, papillose, 16-21 µm diam. Calyptrae cucullate, naked, smooth.

Discussion

4. Acroporium estrellae (Mäll. Hal.) W. R. Buck & Schäf.-Verw., Bol. Mus. Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Bot. 7: 646. 1991 [1993]; Leskea cylindrica Homsch. in Mart., Fl. Bras. 1(2): 73. 1840, hom. illeg., non Brid., Muscol. Recent. Suppl. 2: 60. 1812, nom. illeg. [= Pterigynandrum filiforme Hedw.]; Hypnum estrellae Müll. Hal., Syn. Musc. Frond. 2: 275. 1851; Ectropothecium estrellae (Müll. Hal.) Wijk & Margad., Taxon 11: 221. 1962. Plate 146, figures 1-7 Hypnum stenocarpum Hampe & Miill. Hal. ex Müll. Hal., Bot. Zeitung (Berlin) 15: 384. 1857; Sematophyllum stenocarpum (Miill. Hal.) Mitt., J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 12: 478. 1869; Schraderobryum stenocarpum (Müll. Hal.) M. Fleisch., Musci Buitenzorg 4: 1177. 1923. Sematophyllum ulicinum Mitt., J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 12: 478. 1869; Hypnum ulicinum (Mitt.) Hampe, Vi-densk. Meddel. Dansk Naturhist. Foren. Kjøbenhavn IV, 1: 478. 1879; Schraderobryum ulicinum (Mitt.) M. Fleisch., Musci Buitenzorg 4: 1177. 1923; Acro-porium ulicinum (Mitt.) H. A. Crum, Bryologist 89: 26. 1986. Discussion. The stiff, narrowly lanceolate, gradually acuminate leaves are reminiscent of Acroporium longirostre, but in A. estrellae they are markedly longer. Also, in A. estrellae the plants usually grow on twigs rather than old wood, and the capsules are erect when moist. Crum (1986: 26) reduced Schraderobryum to Acroporium, a statement wholeheartedly subscribed to by Buck and Schafer-Verwimp (1991). The erect capsules and slightly reduced endostomes hardly constitute generic distinctness when other sporophytic features, as well as all the gametophytic ones, are those of other species of Acroporium.

Distribution

Range. Mexico, Central America, Andean South America, southeastern Brazil; Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico; mostly growing on small branches and twigs, in cloud forests, at 1050-2050 m.

Mexico North America| Central America| Venezuela South America| Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| Peru South America| Bolivia South America| Chile South America| Argentina South America| Brazil South America| Cuba South America| Haiti South America| Dominican Republic South America| Puerto Rico South America|