Tropicos | Name - !Macromitrium punctatum (Hook. & Grev.) Brid.

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!Macromitrium punctatum (Hook. & Grev.) Brid.

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

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

Discussion:

Macromitrium punctatum is a small to medium-sized plant with usually five‑ranked leaves and short, strongly bulging mammillose leaf cells in the upper 4/5 of the leaf. Its calyptrae vary from sparsely to very hairy. Unlike all other Central American species of Macromitrium this species has weakly differentiated basal leaf cells – rectangular, incrassate and porose, nearly always smooth – that are restricted to the very base of the leaf. In general aspect it resembles M. guatemalense, M. contextum, and M. cirrosum. All three species have well-developed, tuberculate basal leaf cells. The first two species further differ from M. punctatum in having enlarged, hyaline teeth on the basal leaf margins and M. cirrosum has narrower leaves and smooth calyptrae. Macromitrium microstomum and M. richardii are the only other regional species of Macromitrium with short upper leaf cells and non-tuberculate lower leaf cells. These species are smaller than M. punctatum they have narrower leaves, well-developed basal leaf cells, and distinctively puckered capsule mouths. Macromitrium richardii also has pluripapillose upper leaf cells.

The sporophytes of M. punctatum are extremely variable in setae length and its capsules vary from smooth to strongly furrowed. Vitt (1979) discussed the nomenclatural problems surrounding this species and Macromitrium contextum which has been confused with M. punctatum (see Grout 1946).

Illustrations: Bartram (1928, Fig. 25); Sharp et al. (1994, Fig. 472); Churchill and Linares (1995, Fig. 136 a–f). Fig. 247.

Habitat: On bark of tree trunks, branches and twigs, on logs, and over rocks or boulders; 10–2065 m.

Distribution in Central America: BELIZE. Cayo: Allen 15058 (BRH, MO); Toledo: Allen 18634 (BRH, MO). GUATEMALA. Baja Verapaz: Sharp 5141 (F, FH, NY, TENN); Petén: Lundell 2679a (F, FH, TENN). HONDURAS. Atlántida: Standley 7885 (F); Copán: Allen 17731 (MO, TEFH); Comayagua: Allen 13955 (MO, TEFH); Cortés: Allen 14202 (MO, TEFH); Francisco Morazán: Pilz 1582 (MO); Intibucá: Nelson 7839 (TEFH); La Paz: Davidse 35147 (MO, TEFH); Lempira: Allen 11842 (MO, TEFH); Ocotepeque: Allen 14479 (MO, TEFH); Olancho: Allen 12468 (MO, TEFH); Yoro: Allen 13626A (MO, TEFH). NICARAGUA. Estelí: Stevens 10368 (MO); Jinotega: Stevens 11631 (MO, NIC); Zelaya: Stevens 12509 (MO, NIC). COSTA RICA. Alajuela: Holm & Iltis 1302 (MO); Cartago: Crosby 3817 (MO); Guanacaste: Crosby 3850 (MO); Heredia: Lankester s.n. (FH); Limón: Daly 173 (MO); Puntarenas: Grayum & Herrera 9130 (CR, MO); San José: Lemmon 9 (MO). PANAMA. Chiriquí: Allen 5211A (MO, PMA); Colón: Nee 7258 (MO, PMA); Darién: McPherson 11565E (MO, PMA); Herrera: McPherson 10305A (MO, PMA); Los Santos: McPherson 13508C (MO); Panamá: Crosby 10408 (ALTA, MO); Veraguas: Crosby 10171 (MO).

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

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Macromitrium punctatum (Hook. & Grev.) Brid., Bryol. Univ. 1: 739. 1826.

Orthotrichum punctatum Hook. & Grev., Edinburgh J. Sci. 1: 119. 1824. Protologue: Brazil. Communicated from Brazil, together with O. filiforme, by Professor Raddi. Lectotype (Vitt 1979): Brazil, Raddi (BM, not seen.).

Macromitrium pentastichum C. Müll., Linnaea 21: 186. 1848. Protologue: Suriname. In sehr feuchten, dunkeln Wäldern bei Mariepaston am Saramacca-Strome, auf dünnen Aesten wachsend. Scheint sehr selten zu sein, da der Entdecker nur ein Räschen davon sah. Mai 1846 mit veralteten Früchten. Hb. Kegel. No. 1405 (NY).

Macromitrium hirtellum Bartr., Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 26: 86. 1928. Protologue: Costa Rica. On tree, Quebrada Serena, southeast of Tilaran, Province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica, altitude about 700 meters, Paul C. Standley and Juvenal Valerio, no. 46257, January 27, 1926 (FH, NY, US).

Plants small to medium-sized, yellowish green to reddish‑yellow. Stems moderately to strongly creeping, branches 2–3 cm long, moderately tomentose. Leaves keeled, erect below, flexuose‑contorted to spirally‑contorted above when dry, flexuose‑spreading to squarrose-recurved in more or less five ranks when wet, 1.5–3 x 0.5–0.7 mm, lanceolate to oblong‑lanceolate; apices acute to shortly acuminate; margins serrulate to irregularly serrate above, recurved below, plane above, enlarged basal teeth at leaf insertion absent; costae percurrent to shortly excurrent; upper interior cells 10–14 μm, rounded‑quadrate to rounded‑hexagonal, bulging mammillose to stoutly unipapillose, thin‑walled, not porose, upper marginal cells not differentiated; elongated leaf cells restricted to the lower 1/5 of leaf, to 40 μm long, rectangular, incrassate and porose, not or rarely tuberculate. Perichaetial leaves linear‑lanceolate, to 6 mm long. Setae 3–8(–12) mm long, smooth. Capsules 1.5–2 mm long, cupulate to oblong, smooth or lightly furrowed, occasionally strongly furrowed; opercula erect‑rostrate, to 1 mm long; annuli non‑revoluble, with fragments adhering to capsule mouth; exostome teeth lanceolate, to 200 μm high, yellowish, densely papillose, united forming an erect membrane, endostome hyaline, densely papillose, basal membrane to 200 μm high, segments not differentiated. Spores anisosporous, 12–18(–25) μm, smooth and 18–34(–50) μm, irregularly shaped, lightly papillose. Calyptrae mitrate, laciniate, sparsely or densely long-pilose, 3 mm long.