Campylopus schmidii
Thätigk. St. Gallischen Ber. Naturwiss. Ges. 1870–1871: 439. 1872,.
Plants 2–5 cm, yellowish green, stiff, evenly foliate, the perichaetia in comal tufts. Leaves 5–6 mm, erect-patent when wet, appressed when dry, from oblong base gradually contracted to a long subula, ending in a straight, hyaline, serrate tip; alar cells hardly differentiated; basal laminal cells thin-walled, rectangular, hyaline; distal laminal cells chlorophyllose, oval to narrow or elongate oval, incrassate; costa filling 1/2–2/3 of leaf width, in transverse section showing adaxial hyalocysts as large as the median deuter cells, and abaxial groups of stereids, ribbed abaxially. Specialized asexual reproduction by deciduous buds produced in the distalmost part of the stem. Sporophytes not known from North America.
Habitat: Soil in open pine, cedar and cypress forests
Elevation: 80-200 m
Distribution
Calif., Oreg., Mexico, Asia (China, s India, Sri Lanka, Java, Sulawesi, Borneo, Taiwan), Africa (c Africa), Indian Ocean Islands (Madagascar), Pacific Islands (Hawaii), n Australia.
Discussion
Campylopus schmidii does not fruit in North America, where apparently only female plants exist. The range of this species is mainly southeastern Asia. From there it extends south to Queensland, west to Madagascar and Central Africa, east to Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Mexico. In California it is known from two localities, in Oregon from one, and in Mexico from one, which suggests that the occurrence of C. schmidii may result from occasional long distance dispersal events across the Pacific Ocean; it may not be native in North America. The first collection was made in California in 1933. Plants of C. schmidii resemble C. pilifer but are distinguished by elongate-oval rather than oval distal laminal cells and costa smooth at the abaxial surface and not with lamellae 3–4 cells high as in C. pilifer. Campylopus introflexus has lamellae 2 cells high and a similar areolation as C. pilifer but is distinguished in the field by reflexed hairpoints. All three species are more or less vicariant sister species, C. introflexus in the subantarctic to subtropical parts of the southern hemisphere, C. pilifer in tropical India, Africa, and South America and from there extending to southeastern North America and southwestern Europe, and C. schmidii mainly in southeastern Asia.
Selected References
None.