Grimmia reflexidens |
Grimmiaceae subfam. grimmioideae |
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Habit | Plants in compact hairy cushions, grayish green. | Plants acrocarpous. | ||||||||||||||||
Stems | 1–2 cm, central strand absent. |
erect, central strand present or absent. |
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Leaves | ovate to oblong-lanceolate, 0.1–1.15 × 0.3–0.5 mm, keeled, not plicate, margins plane, awns 1–2 mm, very long, smooth to slightly denticulate, flattened basally, long-decurrent, costal transverse section prominent, semi-circular; basal juxtacostal laminal cells rectangular, sometimes nodulose, thin- to thick-walled; basal marginal laminal cells rectangular with thickened transverse walls, pellucid in 2–4 rows; medial laminal cells rounded-quadrate, slightly sinuose, thick-walled; distal laminal cells yellowish green, 1-stratose with 2-stratose ridges, not bulging, marginal cells 2-stratose, not bulging. |
erect or distally curved, rarely crisped, broadly oblong ovate, ovate-lanceolate, or narrowly lanceolate; margins plane, incurved or recurved, entire to occasionally denticulate distally, costa entire distally, percurrent to excurrent, smooth, in transverse section semi-terete, occasionally terete, elliptical or reniform, with 2 or occasionally with 3–6 adaxial cells near base, usually not markedly larger than abaxial cells, often excurrent as a long awn, awn smooth to toothed but not papillose; laminal cells smooth, mammillose, or papillose; basal cells quadrate to elongate, straight to sometimes sinuous, rarely sinuose-nodulose, thin- to thick-walled, without spiral thickenings, hyaline along insertion or concolorous with more distal basal cells; mid leaf cells mainly quadrate, to short rectangular, often sinuose but not sinuose-nodulose. |
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Seta | short to long, straight, arcuate, or sigmoid, smooth, one per perichaetium; vaginula with straight epidermal cells. |
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Sexual condition | dioicous, perichaetial leaves enlarged. |
autoicous or dioicous. |
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Capsule | absent in northern hemisphere material, emergent to shortly exserted, yellowish brown, oblate, exothecial cells irregularly short-rectangular, thin-walled, stomata absent, annulus of 1 row of quadrate, thick-walled cells, operculum mammillate to rostrate, peristome present, nearly fully-developed, split and perforated only in apex, papillose.] |
usually erect, rarely pendent, immersed to long-exserted, symmetric to ventricose, ovoid, obloid or cylindrical, sometimes globose, smooth or distinctly striate; stomata present or absent; annulus persistent or deciduous; operculum mammillate to long-rostrate; peristome absent basal membrane, distinctly thicker and trabeculate on the abaxial side, entire or split distally. |
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Calyptra | cucullate, mitrate, or mitrate-campanulate, smooth or plicate, not papillose, covering operculum to entire capsule. |
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[seta straight, 1.5–2 mm. | ||||||||||||||||||
Specialized | asexual reproduction absent or occasionally present as gemmae borne in axils of distal leaves or on leaf tips. |
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Grimmia reflexidens |
Grimmiaceae subfam. grimmioideae |
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Habitat | Dry acidic rock | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | low [to moderate] elevations (50[-300] m) (low [to moderate] elevations (200[-1000] ft)) | |||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
NF; South America (Argentina, Chile); Atlantic Islands (Iceland); Pacific Islands (New Zealand); Australia |
Worldwide |
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Discussion | Of conservation concern. Previous to its discovery in Iceland, as Grimmia grisea (H. C. Greven 1998), G. reflexidens was known from only the Southern Hemisphere. It had previously been collected east of East Bay, Newfoundland, now the only known locality in North America, but was not recognized as G. reflexidens. The latter is similar to G. asperitricha Dixon & Sainsbury of New Zealand, and the two species have been confused by G. O. K. Sainsbury (1945) as well as by R. Ochyra (1993). J. Muñoz (1998b) synonymized G. reflexidens with G. sessitana. However, the former is readily separated from the latter by: (1) enlarged perichaetial leaves, (2) decurrent awns, (3) non-bulging laminal cells, and (4) dioicous sexual condition. Capsules are unknown from Northern Hemisphere material, but G. reflexidens lacks stomata while they are present for G. sessitana. Although G. reflexidens and G. teretinervis both have decurrent awns they are easily separated by a number of characters: G. reflexidens grows in compact cushions, has long awns, and a semicircular costa; G. teretinervis grows in loose clumps, is hyaline-tipped to short-awned, and has a unique costa that is distally almost completely circular in transverse section. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Genera ca. 8, species ca. 250 (5 genera, 81 species in the flora). Species of Grimmioideae are separated from those of the Racomitrioideae by features of the peristome, leaf cells that are straight to sinuose, and awns that are smooth to toothed. The Racomitrioideae have leaf cells that are strongly sinuose-nodulose, and awns that are sometimes smooth but are often papillose. The leaf attachments of the Racomitrioideae are brightly colored whereas those of Grimmioideae are hyaline or concolorous with the rest of the lamina (except Grimmia leibergii and G. attenuata which are yellow or orange). All Racomitrioideae have a straight or slightly arcuate seta that can be either smooth or papillose. Their capsules are smooth or almost so. In Grimmioideae the seta can be straight, arcuate, or sigmoid and are always smooth; capsules range from smooth to deeply plicate. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 238. | FNA vol. 27, p. 205. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Grimmiaceae > subfam. Grimmioideae > Grimmia > subg. Guembelia | Grimmiaceae | ||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | G. grisea | |||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Müller Hal.: Syn. Musc. Frond. 1: 795. (1849) | Brotherus: in H. G. A. Engler and K. Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 215(I,3): 444. 1902 (as Grimmieae), | ||||||||||||||||
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