Tropicos | Name - Zygodon obtusifolius Hook.

Cent. Amer. Moss > Orthotrichaceae > Zygodon > Zygodon obtusifolius

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Zygodon obtusifolius Hook.

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Project Name Data (Last Modified On 3/9/2011)

Acceptance : Accepted

Project data (Last Modified On 3/9/2011)

Discussion:

Zygodon obtusifolius, the sole member of Zygodon section Obtusifolii Malta, is a small plant that forms dense, dark‑green or glaucous cushions. When dry its erect to imbricate and scarcely contorted leaves have an aspect like Anomodon minor (Hedw.) Fürnr. It is distinguished from all other members of Zygodon in Central America by its broadly obtuse leaves and densely papillose leaf cells. Zygodon obtusifolius fruits abundantly, but if capsules are absent it could be mistaken for a Desmatodon. Desmatodon differs from Z. obtusifolius in having differentiated basal leaf cells and costae with internally differentiated guide and stereid cells.

Goffinet & Vitt (1998) established the genus Bryomaltaea for this species of Zygodon on the basis of its obtuse leaves and bulging leaf cells. Their type citation for Z. obtusifolius is in error, that type information (New Zealand; Knight) belongs instead to Z. neglectus Hampe ex C. Müll.

Illustrations: Hooker (1820, Pl. 159); Malta (1926, Figs. 99–101); Bartram (1949, Fig. 94 A–C); Lewinsky (1989a, Figs. 1–7, 35–54); Sharp et al. (1994, Fig. 449); Churchill and Linares (1995, Fig. 140 a–f). Fig. 270.

Habitat: On bark of tree trunks and branches, especially Quercus; 1100–2849.

Distribution in Central America: GUATEMALA. San Marcos: Sharp 5466 (TENN). HONDURAS. Comayagua: Allen 14011 (MO, TEFH); Lempira: Allen 12284 (MO, TEFH); Olancho: Allen 12472 (MO, TEFH). COSTA RICA. Alajuela: Griffin et al. 19987 (MO, NY, TENN); Cartago: Holz CR s.n. (GOET); San José: Holz CR 99-823 (GOET).

World Range: Mexico; Central America; Western, Northern, and Southern America, Brazil; India Subcontinent; Australasia.

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Zygodon obtusifolius Hook., Musci Exot. 159. 1820.

Codonoblepharon obtusifolium (Hook.) Jaeg., Ber. Thätigk. St. Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 1872–73: 119. 1874. Bryomaltaea obtusfolia (Hook.) Goffinet in Goffinet & Vitt, Bryol. Twenty-first Cent. 151. 1998. Protologue: Nepal. In Nepal, Hon. D. Gardner.

Zygodon linguiformis C. Müll., Bot. Zeitung (Berlin) 16: 163. 1858. Codonoblepharon linguiforme (C. Müll.) Jaeg., Ber. Thätigk. St. Gallischen Naturwiss. Ges. 1872–73: 119. 1874. Protologue: Columbia. Ad truncos arborum: Hampe donavit. [Bogota, Tequendama, 2500 m., Lindig].

Zygodon spathulaefolius Besch., Mém. Soc. Sci. Nat. Cherbourg 16: 187. 1872. Protologue: Mexico. Prope Mejico, in sylva della Desierta Vieja, sept. 1865 (Bourg.[eau] n° 1334).

Plants very slender, in dense cushions, reddish brown below, dark-green above. Stems erect to 5–10(–20) mm high, sparsely or densely tomentose. Leaves erect or imbricate, not contorted when dry, erect‑incurved to erect‑spreading when wet, 0.7–1.0 mm long, lingulate to ovate‑lingulate; apices broadly obtuse and rounded at the apex; margins crenulate by bulging, papillose leaf cells, plane or weakly recurved; costae stout, ending well below the apex, covered in the upper 1/2 to 2/3 by short, papillose, quadrate cells; upper cells 5–8 μm, rounded, bulging mammillose and densely pluripapillose, incrassate, basal cells near costa oblong, smooth. Brood bodies not seen. Autoicous. Setae 2–5 mm long, smooth, yellow when young, becoming red‑brown with age. Capsules 0.7–1 mm long, obovoid to oblong, 8‑ribbed when dry, constricted at neck; opercula conic‑rostrate, 0.3–0.5 mm long; peristome double, exostome teeth 16 united into 8 teeth‑pairs, red, becoming white with age, densely papillose to horizontally striate, reflexed to recurved when dry, to 140–200 μm, endostome ¾ the length of the exostome teeth, red, basal membrane short, cilia absent, segments stout, vertically striate‑papillose, erect when dry. Spores isosporous, 10–14 μm, smooth. Calyptrae cucullate, smooth, 1 mm long.