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BFNA Title: Zelometeorium |
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XX.
ZELOMETEORIUM M. G. Manuel, J. Hattori Bot. Lab.
43: 110. 1977 * [Greek zelo, emulate, envy, or rival, and meteorium,
alluding to the type genus of the original family] M. S. Ignatov W. R. Reese Plants rather robust, stems creeping along
branches and twigs of trees, with numerous pendent stems, forming intricate
tangles, sometimes distally filiform, green or more commonly yellowish to
brownish green, blackish in old parts. Stems both creeping and pendent flexuose, with weak central strand,
sometimes lacking, having similar foliage and branching whether creeping or
pendent, although strongly variable, foliage terete; branching uneven,
sometimes fairly regularly pinnate; branches straight to flexuose; axillary
hairs 3--4 celled, one proximal cell short, brownish, distal cells elongate;
juvenile branch leaves broadly triangular. Stem leaves in dense
foliage erect-spreading to squarrose from a clasping base, broadly ovate,
acute to acuminate, broadest at 1/2--1/4 of leaf length, rounded to a cordate
base, margins plane or recurved proximally, subentire to serrulate; costa
slender, reaching 0.6--0.8\x leaf length, ending in a small abaxial tooth;
juxtacostal basal cells short-rectangular in 1--2 rows, with thicker and
pitted walls, more pellucid, grading to adjacent cells; forming an indistinct
pellucid group in leaf corners; mid leaf cells linear; leaves in loose
foliage erect to erect-spreading from a clasping base, narrowly to broadly
ovate, abruptly acuminate into a long acumen, often piliferous and flexuose; rounded
to base and auriculate, costa reaching 0.3--0.7 of leaf length, lacking a
spine; juxtacostal basal cells shorter and with thicker and pitted walls, not
distinctly differentiated from mid leaf cells, submarginal cells in leaf
corners, usually only 2--4, sometimes slightly larger and pellucid; mid leaf
cells linear. Branch leaves not different from stem leaves. Sexual
condition dioicous; perichaetial leaves erect with erect to spreading
acumens; entire proximally, serrulate distally; costa extending to base of
acumen. [Seta reddish, short,
straight to curved, rough. Capsule exserted beyond perichaetial
leaves, erect, cylindric; annulus separating by fragments; operculum
conic-rostrate; peristome hygrocastique, open when wet; exostome teeth narrowly
lanceolate, slightly papillose basally, strongly papillose distally;
endostome with low basal membrane, segments as long as exostome teeth,
strongly papillose distally; cilia lacking. Calyptra mitrate, pilose. Spores
smooth to slightly papillose, 14--23 /um.] Zelometeorium has for long been treated as a member
of the tropical and subtropical family Meteoriaceae, although its closest
relative, Meteoridium, was
considered a member of Brachytheciaceae by some authors (M. Lewis 1992).
Results of molecular phylogenetics (M. S. Ignatov and S. Huttunen 2002)
definitely indicate the position of both of them within the Brachytheciaceae,
a sister family to the Meteoriaceae. Species
5 (1 in the flora): tropical areas of the SELECTED
REFERENCE Manuel, M. G. 1977. A monograph of the genus Zelometeorium
Manuel. gen. nov. (Bryopsida: Meteoriaceae). J. Hattori Bot. Lab. 43:
107--126. 1. Zelometeorium
patulum (Hedwig)
M. G. Manuel, J. Hattori Bot. Lab. 43: 118. 1977 C Hypnum
patulum Hedwig, Sp.
Musc. Frond., 279. 1801; Meteoriopsis patula (Hedwig) Brotherus Stems
to 15 cm; branches to 15 mm. Stem leaves 1--1.6 x 0.8--1.2 mm (squarrose leaves
in densely foliate stem parts) or
1.5--2 x 0.45--0.7 mm (erect leaves from moderately loosely foliate
stem parts); basal cells to 12 \um wide; midleaf cells 45--70 x 4-6 \um. Pendent
in tangled wefts from shrubs in humid evergreen hammock forests; 0 m; Fla.;
Mexico; West Indies; Central America; South America. The
smooth glossy plants of Zelometeorium patula, pendent in loose
tangles, with their usually distinctly spreading-squarrose leaves, are easy
to recognize. In North America, this moss is known only from Collier and Dade
counties, OTHER
REFERENCES Lewis, M. 1992 Meteoridium and Zelometeorium
in Ignatov,
M. S. and S. Huttunen 2002 [2003]. Brachytheciaceae (Bryophyta)---a family of
sibling genera. Arctoa 11: 245--296. |
