Mittenothamnium salleanum (Cardot) Besch.

  • 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

    Hypnaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Mittenothamnium salleanum (Besch.) Cardot

  • Description

    Deprecated: mb_convert_encoding(): Handling HTML entities via mbstring is deprecated; use htmlspecialchars, htmlentities, or mb_encode_numericentity/mb_decode_numericentity instead in /home/emu/nybgweb/www-dev/htdocs/science-dev/wp-content/themes/nybgscience/lib/VHMonographsDetails.php on line 179

    Species Description - Plants ± robust, in dark-green to yellow-brown, tangled mats. Stems up to 5 cm long, subpinnately branched; branches horizontally spreading, weakly complanate-foliate or rarely subjulaceous, + 1 cm long; pseudoparaphyllia lanceolate to triangular. Stipe leaves broadly ovate, short-acuminate, sometimes squarrose. Stem leaves patent to squarrose, 1-1.4 x 0.9-1.1 mm, widely ovate to orbicular, abmptly or gradually narrowed to a short, broad acumen, slightly concave, ± plicate; costae up to 1/2 the leaf length; upper median cells opaque, oblong-linear, 25-40 x 3-5 µm, shorter and rhomboidal toward the apex and margin, projecting at both upper and lower angles; alar cells laxer and more transparent, subquadrate to rectangular, weakly porose. Branch leaves patent, 1-1.4 x 0.5-0.7 mm, ovate, with a short, sometimes blunt acumen; margins sometimes recurved even along the acumen. Dioicous. Male plants more irregularly branched, with shorter, more densely foliate branches. Perichaetial leaves narrowed to a long, reflexed acumen. Setae up to 3 cm long, red-brown; capsules suberect to horizontal, oblong-cylindric, 2-3 mm long, 0.9-1.1 mm broad; operculum conic-rostellate. Spores unknown.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 785

    M. salleanum (Besch.) Card., Rev. Bryol. 40: 21. 1913.

    Hypnum salleanum Besch., Mem. Soc. Sci. Nat. Cherbourg 16: 253. 1872.

    Microthamnium salleanum (Besch.) Besch. ex Par., Index Bryol. 811. 1897.

    This species is easily distinguished from M . reptans by stem leaves broadly ovate to orbicular and broader-acuminate and median cells opaque and shorter (25-40 µm long), with projections at both upper and lower angles, and dioicous sexuality.

  • Distribution

    On base of tree trunks, logs, and rocks; Chiapas, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potosi, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz—Mexico; Central America, Cuba.

    Mexico North America| Central America| Cuba South America|