|
BFNA
Title: Bestia |
|
Howard A. Crum Daniel H. Norris Plants with pinnate or irregularly 2-pinnate branching; branches curved to one side when dry. Leaves with short, thick-walled leaf cells, those in the distal portion of the leaf projecting at their distal ends as papillae; costa stout, distally toothed abaxially. Capsule erect and symmetric, peristome double, well formed and hypnoid, somewhat reduced. Species 1: H. A. Crum (1987) placed this monotypic genus in the relationship of Isothecium, in the Brachytheciaceae, but referred Bestia vancouveriensis to the Thamnobryaceae as Porotrichum vancouveriense, also known as Bryolawtonia vancouveriense. The peristome is only somewhat reduced from the perfect, double state associated with the inclined and asymmetric capsules typical of the Brachytheciaceae. SELECTED REFERENCES Crum, H. A. 1987. Bestia, Tripterocladium, and Isothecium: an explication of relationships. Bryologist 90: 40--42. 1. Bestia longipes (Sullivant & Lesquereux) Brotherus in A. Engler & K. A. E. Prantl, Nat. Pfl. 1(3): 859. 1906 Alsia longipes Sullivant & Lesqeureux; A. sullivantii Lesquereux ex Fleischer Plants whitish green to deep green, growing in wefts to 12 cm, pinnately branched with secondary branches to 1 cm. Rhizoids rarely present, pale brown, to 12 /um wide at insertion, smooth and essentially unbranched, inserted on stem base. Axillary hairs 3-celled with 2 basal brown cells, only 4--5 /um wide at insertion but 10 /um wide distally, with the terminal cell hyaline and about 40 /um in length. Leaves of stems and branches similar, to 1.6 mm, 3-‑5:1, symmetric and straight, ovate, broadly acute, somewhat concave at base, imbricate when dry but erect-spreading when moist; laminal margins narrowly recurved at least near mid leaf, decurrent at base, serrulate to denticulate beyond mid leaf; median cells smooth, 5-‑6 μm wide, 1.2--1.8:1, thick‑walled (lumen/wall ratio 2-‑4: 1), not or inconspicuously pitted; basal, juxtacostal cells somewhat more elongate, 3--4: 1; alar cells quadrate, thick-walled, with rounded lumens, extending more than 20 cells up the margins and extending inward to the basal plica, auriculate at the small decurrency; cells of apical region similar to median laminal cells, often prorate-spinose in a small patch near the costal apex; costa extending to within about 10 cells of the apex with its distal portion having many abaxial spines; pseudoparaphyllia about as broad as long, serrate at base, ecostate with short cells throughout. Sexual condition almost certainly dioicous with male plants about 1/2 as large as the female plants; perigonia nearly spherical on a short stalk, bud‑like with bracts broadly ovate, 1.2--1.4:1, mostly rather sparsely cloaking and inserted on the ventral side of the main axes; perichaetia on ventral side of main erect axes, the bracts 2‑-3 mm, ecostate or with a short costa, strongly convolute around the seta; inner perichaetial bracts with post-fertilization development, abruptly acuminate from an elliptic base. Seta red to red-brown, to 15 mm, erect, exserted from perichaetium but with the entire sporophyte often shorter than adjacent lateral branches. Capsule pale brown, nearly symmetric, erect to somewhat inclined, not distorted or sulcate when dry; exothecial cells not in regular vertical rows, irregularly quadrate to short-rectangular, 1-‑2:1, to 30 /um wide, with a lumen/wall ratio about 5:1; suboral exothecial cells isodiametric and reddened, to 15 /um in diameter; urn to 4 mm, 4--5:1; operculum inclined-rostrate, about 1/5 as long as urn; exostome to 500 /um, teeth very narrow with base only 50 /um wide, evenly contracted from base without a shoulder; outer surface of exostome horizontally to obliquely striate basally but becoming smooth to lightly papillose distally, pale yellow, erect when dry; endostome smooth with segments shorter than the exostome, very narrow but perforate along mid-line, arising from a short basal membrane with cilia paired and appendiculate. Spores smooth, 10-‑14 /um. Vertical surface of cliffs and boulders, occasionally logs
and bases of broadleaf trees (Umbellularia); low to moderate
elevations; Bestia longipes is usually recognized
by the pattern of erect to decumbent, frondose branching. The frondose branches have an elongate main
axis with markedly shorter branch axes so there may be a 10:1 ratio of length
to width. The only
|
|
|
|
|
