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BFNA Title: Rutenbergiaceae |
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XX. RUTENBERGIACEAE
M. Fleischer William R. Buck Plants mostly robust, in green to golden,
mostly thin but sometimes extensive, epiphytic colonies. Primary stems creeping, slender, inconspicuous, with reduced,
scale-like leaves, sympodially branched, secondary
stems +/- erect, simple to irregularly branched or regularly pinnate, not or
scarcely complanate-foliate; in cross-section without hyalodermis, without
central strand; paraphyllia none; pseudoparaphyllia foliose; axillary hairs
with 1--2 short brown basal cells, 2--5 rectangular hyaline distal cells or 4--8
oblate brown cells and a single elongate hyaline distal cell. Leaves appressed when dry, spreading
when moist, lanceolate to oblong-ovate, gradually to abrubtly
short- to long-acuminate, not or slightly concave, not plicate, sometimes auriculate; margins sometimes limbate
from elongate cells, serrate to subentire above, serrulate to entire below, +/-
recurved near shoulders and broadly incurved below, or sometimes plane
throughout; costa single, subpercurrent to excurrent; cells short- to
long-hexagonal, bulging to minutely but distinctly prorulose at both ends on
both sides of the leaf, firm-walled, not or strongly porose; alar cells weakly
differentiated to numerous, subquadrate to oblate,
collenchymatous, not reaching the costa. Specialized
asexual reproduction by flagellate branches. Dioicous. Setae short, from a hairy vaginula. Capsules
emersed to emergent; annulus not differentiated;
operculum long-rostrate; peristome single (lacking endostome) or double;
exostome teeth smooth; endostome from a very low basal membrance,
segments smooth, cilia none. Spores
spherical to irregularly shaped, large, smooth to roughened.
Calyptrae mitrate
or cucullate, densely hairy. Genera 3, species 6 (1 genus, 1 species
in the flora): East Africa and The Rutenbergiaceae are primarily
a family of East African mosses. The inclusion of Pseudocryphaea in the family is based primarily on molecular
data, in part because it is not known fertile. selected reference Buck, W. R., B. Goffinet & A. J. Shaw.
2000. Testing morphological concepts of orders of pleurocarpous mosses (Bryophyta) using phylogenetic reconstructions based on trnL-trnF and rps4 sequences. Molec. Phylogenet. Evol. 16: 180--198. 1.
PSEUDOCRYPHAEA E. Britton ex Brotherus in A. Engler, Nat. Pflanzenfam.
ed. 2, 11: 98. 1925 * [Latin pseudo,
false, and genus Cryphaea] William R. Buck Plants often slender but rather robust, in
green to golden, mostly thin but sometimes extensive, epiphytic colonies. Primary stems creeping, slender,
inconspicuous, with reduced, scale-like leaves, sympodially
branched, secondary stems ± erect, irregularly branched or often regularly
pinnate, often curved when dry with branches turned to one side, not or
scarcely complanate-foliate; paraphyllia none; pseudoparaphyllia foliose;
axillary hairs with 1(--2) short brown basal cells, 4--8 oblate, brown
intercalary cells and a single elongate hyaline distal cell. Leaves of secondary stems and
branches similar, appressed and ± julaceous when dry, spreading when moist,
lanceolate to oblong-ovate, gradually short-acuminate, not or slightly
concave, not plicate, short-decurrent; margins subentire to serrulate
distally, entire proximally, mostly plane, sometimes revolute; costa single,
subpercurrent to percurrent; laminal cells long-hexagonal, minutely but
distinctly prorulose at both ends on both sides of the leaf, firm-walled, not
or scarcely porose, becoming smooth and porose toward the yellowed insertion;
alar cells numerous, subquadrate to oblate,
collenchymatous, not reaching the costa. Specialized
asexual reproduction by flagellate branches,
often produced in upper leaf axils, slender, usually unbranched, with small
ecostate leaves. Gametangia and
sporophytes not seen. Species 1 (1
on the flora): North America ( Pseudocryphaea is easily recognized by its julaceous
habit with numerous, very slender flagellate branches. The leaves are unicostate with relatively long cells that are minutely
prorulose at both ends. Although the prorulae are
small (H. A. Crum and L. E. Anderson, 1981: 771, cited the cells as smooth),
they are easily seen at 400\x since they are relatively elongate, although
slender. The alar cells are extensively developed and subquadrate
to oblate. 1. Pseudocryphaea domingensis
(Sprengel) W. R. Buck, Bryologist 83: 455. 1980
[1981] F Neckera
domingensis Sprengel, Syst. Veg. 4(1): 185.
1827; Leucodon domingensis
(Sprengel) Mitten; Pterigynandrum domingense (Sprengel) Hampe; Pseudocryphaea flagellifera
(Bridel) Plants to ca. 6 cm, but often shorter. Stems in section with 1 external row
of enlarged reddish firm-walled cells, subtended by ca. 5 rows of small
thick-walled reddish cells surrounding larger thinner-walled hyaline cells,
central strand none; pseudoparaphyllia narrowly to broadly foliose, when broad
often incised; axillary hairs apparently 2 per axil (1 per axil in flagellate
branch leaves), the single elongate hyaline distal cell often with granular
contents. Leaves 1--1.7(--2) mm;
laminal cells ca. 6--8:1; alar cells extending up the margins by 30--40
cells. Specialized asexual
reproduction by flagellate branches to 4--5 mm, ca. 0.07 mm in diameter
including leaves; leaves ca. 0.2 mm, cells ca. 3--4:1, alar cells few. Usually on
tree trunks, less often rocks, fairly dry to mesic forests; 0--1200 m; Pseudocryphaea domingensis is distinctive among North American
mosses by the combination of julaceous stems, flagellate
branches, and unicostate leaves with elongate,
prorulose cells, and is unlikely to be confused with any other moss. Depauperate, eflagellate plants
have been misnamed Henicodium geniculatum,
but in that species the costa ends well before the apex and the cells are unipapillose over the lumina. |
