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Campylopus pittieri

Interesting Facts

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Description

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Family Dicranaceae

Plants small to large, often in dense tufts. Stems erect , simple or dichotomously to irregularly branched, usually with central strand, often densely radiculose , tips occasionally deciduous. Leaves in several rows around the stem, erect or secund , often falcate-secund, sometimes crispate , short- to long-lanceolate, whole leaves or their tips sometimes deciduous; costa single, usually strong , percurrent to excurrent, sometimes ending in a short to long hyaline awn , smooth , ridged or lamellose on abaxial surface, rhizoids occasionally on adaxial or abaxial surface near leaf base ; laminal cells smooth or sometimes distal cells mammillose or papillose on one or both sides, papillae rarely forked , or toothed by projecting cell ends, pitted or nonpitted; proximal cells elongate , often differentiated in alar region, sometimes undifferentiated. Specialized asexual reproduction absent or occasionally present as brood leaves, microphyllous branches, borne in axils of distal leaves or as rhizoidal tubers. Sexual condition autoicous , dioicous or pseudomonoicous. Seta solitary or several per perichaetium , elongate, usually straight, sometimes flexuose or cygneous . Capsule exserted, erect, inclined , or sometimes curved , cylindrical or ovoid , smooth, ridged, furrowed or irregularly wrinkled, sometimes strumose ; stomata present or absent, superficial; annulus present or absent, often compound , deciduous or persistent ; operculum conic or obliquely rostrate from a conic base; peristome single, usually of 16 lanceolate teeth, deeply divided into 2 or rarely 3 divisions, usually vertically striolate or pitted-striolate proximally, papillose distally. Calyptra cucullate , smooth, naked, sometimes fringed at base, usually covering most of capsule, fugacious . Spores mostly spheric, smooth to papillose.

Genera 50-52, species ca. 900 (17 genera, 90 species in the flora ) : worldwide.

Distinctive characters of this large acrocarpous family include the erect, often tomentose stems; mostly narrow, lanceolate, occasionally falcate or falcate-secund leaves, with a single, narrow to broad costa, with or without rhizoids at the base, sometimes ending in a hyaline, occasionally toothed apex, costa in cross section with or without stereid bands , leaf cells usually smooth, sometimes mammillose, or rarely with a single papilla on one or both sides, papillae rarely forked, asexual propagation by specialized deciduous branches, deciduous leaves or leaf apices, rarely rhizoidal tubers; sporophytes usually solitary or rarely clustered, setae mostly elongate, straight or rarely flexuose or cygneous, capsule cylindric to ovoid, erect to horizontal, smooth or ribbed , sometimes strumose, operculum usually obliquely rostrate, peristome single, with 16 teeth often divided 1/2 way to the base, usually striolate or pitted-striolate proximally, papillose distally.[1]

Genus Campylopus

Plants usually 3-10 cm, occasionally longer . Stems usually simple , not tomentose or with dense reddish or whitish tomentum . Leaves 3-12 mm, erect-patent or appressed foliate , narrowly lanceolate, ending in a smooth or denticulate , straight or reflexed tip ; alar cells large, inflated , hyaline or reddish brown, or not differentiated; basal laminal cells thin-walled, hyaline, or thick-walled, chlorophyllose, sometimes with pitted walls, rectangular to subquadrate ; distal laminal cell walls incrassate , quadrate to short-rectangular, oblique , or oval to elongate oval; costa strong , filling 1/3-4/5 of leaf width , excurrent in a more or less long, chlorophyllose or hyaline awn, in transverse section showing a median band of deuters, an adaxial layer of hyalocysts , substereids or stereids , and abaxially layers of stereid or non-stereid cells, and an abaxial row of chlorocysts ; abaxial side of the costa smooth, ridged or lamellose. Specialized asexual reproduction by brood leaves, microphyllous branches, deciduous leaves or stem tips or rhizoidal tubers. Sexual condition dioicous. Perichaetia terminal , often bud like, rarely pseudolateral; perichaetial leaves with a broader, sheathing base and a long, narrow subula. Seta 5-10 mm, those of young sporophytes curved downward, pushing the immature capsule between the comal leaves and leaving the calyptra behind when the mature capsule curves upward, sinuose, twisted, cygneous when wet and performing uncoiling movements. Capsule erect and symmetric or curved and asymmetric , sometimes strumose , furrowed when empty; annulus present but not dehiscent ; operculum rostrate , half as long as the capsule; peristome teeth divided to the middle in two prongs, reddish or orange and horizontally striate proximally, hyaline and papillose distally. Calyptra cucullate , ciliate or entire at base. Spores ca. 13 µm, smooth or papillose.

Species ca. 180: North America, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Atlantic Islands, Pacific Islands, Australia.

The North American species of Campylopus were revised by J.-P. Frahm (1980) based on a study of more than 1000 herbarium specimens. At that time, four species of Campylopus were recorded as new to North America and two species were placed into synonymy . The most recent checklist of the mosses of North America (L. E. Anderson et al. 1990) lists 18 species. Of these, the record of C. zygodonticarpus is based on a misidentification and C. paradoxus is a superfluous name for C. flexuosus, which is also included in the list. Since that time, C. japonicus has been newly recorded for North America, resulting in a total of 17 species, and new names have been introduced for C. aureus, C. japonicus, and C. schwarzii.

Campylopus was formerly divided into three subgenera on the basis of morphology of the transverse section of the costa. Although this classification is no longer used, the anatomy of the costa is still an important character for identification. It is, however, not in all cases necessary to prepare cross sections. The presence of adaxial stereids or hyalocysts can also be observed under the microscope by surface view of the adaxial side of the costa. Since the perichaetial leaves vary in both form and by the presence of thin-walled cells walls in species that usually have thick-walled cells, the study of such characters should be avoided. Alar cells are generally also not a valuable character in Campylopus; they are little differentiated in plants growing in damp habitats but are well developed in plants in exposed habitats with water uptake from the underground. The same is true for the presence or absence of a tomentum. Identification is facilitated if the ranges of the species are considered. Many species are found only very locally.[2]

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 4,936 meters (0 to 16,194 feet).[3]

Taxonomy

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Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 19-Jul-2004

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Campylopus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 20 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

C. angustiretis (Campylopus Moss) · C. arctocarpus (Campylopus Moss) · C. atrovirens (Campylopus Moss) · C. atrovirens var. cucullatifolius (Campylopus Moss) · C. aureus (Campylopus Moss) · C. carolinae (Carolina Campylopus Moss) · C. cucullatifolius (Campylopus Moss) · C. flexuosus (Campylopus Moss) · C. fragilis (Fragile Campylopus Moss) · C. introflexus (Campylopus Moss) · C. oerstedianus (Oersted's Campylopus Moss) · C. paradoxus (Paradox Campylopus Moss) · C. pilifer (Campylopus Moss) · C. pyriformis (Campylopus Moss) · C. schimperi (Schimper's Campylopus Moss) · C. schwarzii (Schwarz's Campylopus Moss) · C. subulatus (Campylopus Moss) · C. surinamensis (Surinam Campylopus Moss) · C. tallulensis (Tallul Campylopus Moss) · C. zygodonticarpus (Campylopus Moss)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 27, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Robert R. Ireland Jr. "Dicranaceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 27 Page 12, 39, 331, 358, 360, 426, 427, 433, 440, 443, 444, 548, 564. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Jan-Peter Frahm "Campylopus". in Flora of North America Vol. 27 Page 25, 359, 366, 367, 376, 394, 395, 440. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. Mean = 2,185.020 meters (7,168.701 feet), Standard Deviation = 1,189.130 based on 152 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/20/2012