Flora of North America species comparison

Campylopus introflexus occurs in masses in sand dunes along the west coast of North America and throughout the Southern Hemisphere. The species was introduced in Great Britain in 1942, and since the beginning of the 1970s has been aggressively spreading through Europe. It now ranges from Iceland to Spain and from Ireland to Poland. The first record in North America dates from August, 1975, and was made on a gravel roof of a building of Humboldt University, Arcata, California. The species is undoubtedly introduced in North America and is spreading here as rapidly as in Europe. The name C. introflexus was used previously for C. pilifer, thus all old references for C. introflexus in North America have to be referred to that species. Also, specimens of C. surinamensis and C. oerstedianus from North America were named as C. introflexus. Campylopus introflexus is easily recognized by the reflexed hair points. Female plants have terminal perichaetial buds. Problems may rarely arise with forms from shaded habitats, in which the hairpoints are absent or so short that they are not reflexed.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Species ca. 180 (17 in the flora).

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.

Excluded Species:

Campylopus zygodonticarpus (Müller Hal.) Paris

L. E. Anderson et al. (1990) in their most recent checklist of the mosses of North America listed this species, based on a specimen (Anderson 26656, DUKE) collected in Mississippi in 1992, consisting of C. tallulensis.

Campylopus subporodictyon (Brotherus) B. H. Allen & Ireland

Known in North America only from British Columbia, this species has recently been transferred to Campylopus from Dicranoweisia.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)