Grimmia laevigata (Brid.) Brid.

  • Authority

    Buck, William R. 1987. Bryostephane Steereana: A Collection of Bryological Papers Presented to William Campbell Steere On The Occasion of His 80th Birthday. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 45: 1-749.

  • Family

    Grimmiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Grimmia laevigata (Brid.) Brid.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Plants medium-sized, 5-15 mm, occasionally to 20 mm high, dark-green, brownish or blackish, somewhat hoary, in dense, rigid tufts, simple or sparsely forked, branching below. Leaves larger toward the stem tips, crowded, shiny, erect to appressed, not contorted when dry, (1.5-)2.5-3.0(-4.0) mm long, ± concave, oblong-lanceolate to oblong-ovate or elliptic, gradually to abruptly narrowed to a long, broad, strongly spinulose, ± decurrent, hyaline apex; margins entire, not thickened, erect or ± incurved; costa slender, not prominent over entire back, disappearing towards the base of the awn; upper cells small, green, obscure, irregularly rounded-quadrate, walls thick and straight, 5-8 µm, bistratose; basal cells short and greenish, subquadrate or transversely elongate, with firm, straight walls, few cells near the costa oblong to linear. Dioecious. Perichaetia terminal; leaves sheathing, oblong-aristate, 4 mm long. Setae straight, (1.7-)2-3 mm long; capsules emergent, 1.0-1.7 mm long, oblong-cylindric, smooth, ± wrinkled when dry; annulus well-developed, deciduous; peristome teeth erect, lanceolate, variously split and perforate above, red-brown or reddish-yellow, papillose; operculum stoutly and obliquely short-rostrate; exothecial cells firm-walled, oblong-hexagonal; stomata near the base of the urn. Spores rounded, (5-)8-14 µm, smooth. Calyptra cucuUate, deeply lobed, smooth.

  • Discussion

    Figs. 1-14.

    Campylopus laevigatus Brid., Mant. Muse. Recent Suppl. 4: 76. 1819. Type-locality: Europe.

    Geographical distribution: Grimmia laevigata has been reported from the western Himalayas, Kashmir, Chitral, Afghanistan, central Asia, Europe, Caucasus, Japan, throughout Africa, North and Central America, Australia and New Zealand (Gangulee, 1972); in North America from Quebec west to Minnesota, south to Georgia, Florida and Texas, and from British Columbia to California, New Mexico and northem Mexico; Madeira, the Canary Islands, western and central Asia and Hawaii (Crum & Anderson, 1981), and from southem Africa (Magill, 1981).

    Comments: Distribution of this species is worldwide. It is frequently found on rock or shallow soil in drier areas.

    Grimmia laevigata is distinguished from the other members of the genus by the oblong leaf shape, broad costal base and strongly spinulose awn.

    According to Crum and Anderson (1981), this species is important in the primary succession on the vast expanses of flat granitic rocks along the Fall Line and in the Piedmont Plateau ofthe southem United States.

    Grimmia laevigata is reported for the first time for Brazil and South America.

  • Distribution

    Specimen examined: BRAZIL. Rio Grande do Sul: Municipio de Lavras do Sul, na encosta suave, rochosa, ca. 2 km S do Rio Camaqua, ao longo da BR-133, 30°58' S, 53º30' W, 16 Jul 1980, D. M. Vital 9186, det. W. C. Steere (ny, sp 149131).

    Brazil South America|