Tropicos | Name - !Brymela tutezona Crosby & B.H. Allen

Cent. Amer. Moss > Pilotrichaceae > Brymela > Brymela tutezona

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!Brymela tutezona Crosby & B.H. Allen

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Project Name Data (Last Modified On 2/18/2014)

Acceptance : Accepted

Project data (Last Modified On 2/18/2014)

Discussion :

Brymela tutezona is a very robust species with stems reaching 11 cm long. Plants of B. tutezona have strongly creeping primary stems and erect, robust secondary stems that occasionally bear branches. On stripping the leaves from most plants, however, numerous primordia are found at regu-lar intervals along the secondary stems. Its plants usually have a remarkable reddish to burgundy color, are evenly foliate, and have long (6–8 mm), broadly ovate-lanceolate, strongly undulate leaves. The leaves are broadly rounded to the insertions (sometimes weakly auriculate) and have long leaf cells that are remarkably incrassate and porose throughout. The costae of B. tutezona are relatively weak, reaching 1/2–3/4 the leaf length, they are smooth at back, and they project at the tips. The leaf margins are mostly plane and serrulate above. Brymela tutezona has elongate, dark red setae that are scabrous above and inclined capsules. The opercula are long-rostrate and the massive annuli consist of 4–8 rows of yellowish, hexagonal cells.

There is no other Central American species of Brymela that approaches the size of B. tutezona. Indeed, the northern South American B. parkiana (Hook. & Grev.) W. R. Buck (known also from Bar-bados) is the only Brymela species that comes close to B. tutezona in size. Although B. parkiana some-times has creeping stems to 10 cm long, the leaves are obtuse to acute rather than long-acuminate, and they are never more than 3 mm long.

Hemiragis aurea is similar to Brymela tutezona in size, and it has a non-complanate habit, in-crassate, porose leaf cells, and leaves that are rounded at base. It differs from B. tutezona in having non-undulate, strongly plicate, long-triangular leaves that are only 3–5 mm long. Although some spe-cies of Thamniopsis also approach B. tutezona in size, that genus differs from B. tutezona in having a well-developed stem hyalodermis and thin-walled leaf cells that are greatly enlarged and bulging at base.

Illustrations : Crosby and Allen (1985, Figs. 1–6). Figure 153.

Habitat : Epiphytic on leaves and branches of trees and shrubs; 890–1570 m.

Distribution in Central America :

PANAMA. Coclé: McPherson 11970 (MO); Veraguas: McPher-son 12089C (MO, NY).

World Range : Central America.

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Plants robust, to 11 cm long and 0.8–1.3 cm wide, yellow green above, red to burgundy below, in glossy epiphytic masses. Stems creeping, irregularly branched, hyaline to yellowish when young, be-coming reddish with age, evenly foliate; stems in cross section with sclerodermis of 3–4 rows of small, thick-walled cells, cortical cells enlarged, firm-walled, central strand absent; paraphyllia ab-sent; pseudoparaphyllia absent; axillary hairs 2–4 cells long, basal 1–3 cells short-rectangular, red-dish brown, upper cell oblong-elongate, hyaline; rhizoids in sparse groups from clusters of initials abaxial to the leaf insertions, smooth, reddish brown, not or sparsely and irregularly branched. Leaves erect, strongly undulate above, plicate below when dry, erect-spreading when wet, symmetric or weakly asymmetric, concave, broadly ovate-lanceolate, long-acuminate, 6–8 X 2–3 mm; margins en-tire below, weakly serrate above, plane; costae double, thin, ending 1/2–3/4 the leaf length, diverging throughout, smooth on back, not projecting at the apices; cells smooth, incrassate, porose, apical cells rhomboidal to elongate-rhomboidal, 39–69 X 9–12 µm, median cells linear-rhomboidal, 55–115 X 7–9 µm, cells across the base reddish orange, rectangular, strongly porose; alar cells shortly rectan-gular, 23–55 X 13–21 µm. Dioicous. Perigonia sessile along stems and branches. Perichaetia termi-nal on lateral buds. Setae elongate, 2.5–3.0 cm long, dark red, scabrous above. Capsules more or less inclined, symmetric and cylindric, neck moderately developed, 2.5–3.5 mm long; exothecial cells rounded-rectangular, incrassate, more or less collenchymatous; stomata on neck; opercula long-rostrate, conic at base, 1.5–2.0 mm long; annuli massive, persistent, of 4–8 rows of yellowish, hexagonal cells; peristome diplolepideous; exostome teeth narrowly triangular, with broad median furrows, densely and closely striate below, coarsely papillose above, ventral surface hyaline to yellowish, smooth; en-dostome as long as the exostome, yellowish, lightly papillose throughout, basal membranes high, seg-ments broad, strongly keeled, not perforate, cilia absent. Spores rounded, 23–35 µm, faintly papillose. Calyptra not seen.