Tropicos | Name - !Pseudosymblepharis schimperiana (Paris) H.A. Crum

Cent. Amer. Moss > Pottiaceae > Pseudosymblepharis > Pseudosymblepharis schimperiana

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!Pseudosymblepharis schimperiana (Paris) H.A. Crum

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Project data (Last Modified On 2/16/2011)

Discussion:

In Central America P. schimperiana is commonly found on limestone cliffs while the other Central American species of Pseudosymblepharis are more commonly found on soil or rotting wood. Pseudosymblepharis schimperiana is a medium- to large-sized plant with long, narrowly lanceolate leaves that are broadly ovate, erect-clasping at base and spirally contorted above. Its basal leaf cells are strongly differentiated from the upper leaf cells, with the cells near the costa and junction of the sheath and limb rectangular, thick-walled and porose, and there is a basal border of thinner-wall, square to short-rectangular, hyaline cells that run up the margin in a v-shaped pattern. Due to its usually brittle and fragile leaves the upper lamina is often irregularly torn and broken.

Pseudosymblepharis richardsii differs from P. schimperiana in having non-sheathing leaves, an exceedingly well-developed basal leaf border that extends to 2/3 the leaf length. Both P. guatemalensis and P. bartramii are smaller more slender plants than P. schimperiana, they further differ from that species in having non-clasping leaves and a poorly developed basal leaf border. Pseudosymblepharis guatemalensis also differs from P. schimperiana in having thin-walled, bulging cells throughout the leaf base. Pleurochaete luteola is similar to Pseudosymblepharis schimperiana in having clasping leaves and a well-developed basal leaf limbidium, but differs from it in having a strongly denticulate leaf margin and a stem sclerodermis.

Illustrations: Bartram (1949, Fig. 44 D–G); Zander (1993, Pl. 7 1–7); Sharp et al. (1994, Fig. 175). Figure 67.

Habitat: On limestone cliffs or boulders and tree (Cupressus, Quercus) trunks; 1400–2849 m.

Distribution in Central America: BELIZE. Toledo: Allen 18544 (BRH, MO). GUATEMALA. Alta Verapaz: Türckheim 7481 (NY); Chimaltenango: Standley 58781c (F); Chiquimula: Steyermark 31693 (F, NY); Huehuetenango: Sharp 4811 (MO); Jalapa: Steyermark 32553 (F); Petén: Lundell 2943 (NY); Quiché: Sharp 2487 (US). EL SALVADOR. Chalatenango: Sipman et al. 37801 (MO, NY). HONDURAS. Comayagua: Allen 13868 (MO, TEFH); Lempira: Allen 11968 (MO, TEFH); Ocotepeque: Allen 14447 (MO, TEFH); Santa Bárbara: Allen 11641 (MO, TEFH). COSTA RICA. Puntarenas: Hammel 19266 (CR, MO); San José: Holz & Schäfer-Verwimp CR99-1125 (GOET, MO).

World Range: Mexico; Central America; Caribbean, Western and Northern south America.

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Pseudosymblepharis schimperiana (Par.) Crum, Bryologist 55: 139. 1952.

Syrrhopodon circinatus Schimp. ex Besch., Mém. Soc. Sci. Nat. Cherbourg 16: 172. 1872, hom. illeg. Syrrhopodon schimperianus Par., Index Bryol. 1254. 1898, nom. nov. Symblepharis schimperiana (Par.) Card., Rev. Bryol. 38: 99. 1911. Pseudosymblepharis circinata (Schimp.) Broth., Nat. Pflanzenfam. (ed. 2) 10: 261. 1924, illeg. type of earlier name included. Protologue: Mexico. Orizaba, Cordova (F. Müller, 1853).

Tortella mollissima Broth. ex Bartr., Bryologist 50: 203. 1947. Trichostomum mollissimum (Broth. ex Bartr.) Crum, Bryologist 72: 245. 1969. Protologue: Mexico, Zacuapán, Vera Cruz, on rocks, Dec., 1918, C.A. Purpus 9361.

Plants medium-sized or robust, dull yellow-green to dark-green, in dense tufts or cushions, to 80 mm high. Stems red, erect, sparsely and irregularly branched, hyalodermis present, central strand weakly developed or absent; rhizoids moderately developed below, reddish brown, smooth. Leaves 5–8 mm long, erect, linear-lanceolate from a broadly ovate, clasping, sheathing base, incurved, spirally twisted and contorted, tubulose above when dry, spreading when wet; apices acute to acuminate, sharply mucronate; laminae fragile and often broken or eroded above; margins entire and plane; costa short excurrent, guide cells and two stereid bands well-developed, ventral surface layer enlarged; upper cells sub-quadrate to short rectangular, 16–10 x 8–10 μm, firm-walled, pluripapillose, basal cells near costa and junction of the sheath and limb rectangular, thick-walled and porose, outer and lower basal cells enlarged, 85–30 m x 10–25 μm, rectangular, thin-walled, bulging, hyaline, smooth, outer cells extending up the margins in a v-shaped pattern less than 1/4 the leaf length. Setae 1–2 per perichaetium, elongate, smooth, spirally twisted, 10–15 mm long, yellow, becoming red with age. Capsules narrowly cylindrical, 1.5–2 mm long, smooth to lightly wrinkled when dry; stomata in neck; opercula erect-rostrate, 1 mm long; annuli well-developed; peristome teeth 16, short, erect to weakly twisted, papillose. Spores 13–15 μm. Calyptrae smooth, 4 mm long.