Callicostella rufescens (Mitt.) A.Jaeger

  • Authority

    Buck, William R. 2003. Guide to the plants of central french Guiana. Part 3. Mosses. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 76: 1-167.

  • Family

    Pilotrichaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Callicostella rufescens (Mitt.) A.Jaeger

  • Description

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    Species Description - Plants medium-sized, in lustrous or dull, green to reddish, mostly lax mats; stems to ca. 2 cm long, usually 1-1.5 cm, irregularly branched, densely foliate. Leaves contorted when dry, the lateral ones erect-spreading, the dorsal and ventral ones erect, oblong to oblong-ovate, typically broadly rounded at the apex, often apiculate, sometimes short-acuminate, ± asymmetric, 0.8-1.4 x 0.3-0.5 mm; margins irregularly serrulate to serrate above, with ± swollen and often bifid teeth, plane, not or obscurely bordered below; costa ending 3/4-7/8 the leaf length, often reddish, usually ± diverging throughout or parallel above, smooth or with a very scattered teeth in upper 1/4; cells oblong to long-hexagonal, 15-25 x 5-9 µm, smooth or rarely sparsely uni-papillose or prorulose, thick-walled, porose, becoming short- rectangular, smooth, and often colored across the insertion. Asexual propagula not seen. Autoicous, synoicous or dioicous. Setae roughened throughout, reddish, 0.8-1.5 cm long, curved at extreme apex; capsules inclined to pendent, ovoid to cylindric, ca. 1.5 mm long, often with a roughened neck.

  • Discussion

    I am not convinced that I have reasonably defined this species, but have essentially done it the same as Florschutz-de Waard (1986). Callicostella is one of the more taxonomically difficult moss genera in the neotropics and in need of revision. Careful study may well recognize more than a single species from the broad con¬cept used for this species here.

  • Distribution

    In non-flooded moist forests, usually along streams, somewhat common, ca. 300 m, on rotten wood and rock.

    French Guiana South America|