Calymperes tenerum

Plants gregarious or tufted, pale green to brownish, straight or curved at tips when dry, to 5 mm or more but mostly much shorter. Leaves dimorphic; vegetative 1–3 mm; distal lamina oblong to broadly linear-lanceolate; margins 1-stratose or slightly thickened distally, entire; costa in cross section showing ad- and abaxial bands of stereid cells; medial cells distinct, 7–8 µm, slightly bulging adaxially, smooth or minutely papillose abaxially; teniolae absent; cancellinae ending in broad angles distally, adaxial cells smooth distally; gemmiferous leaves with apex of costa excurrent, bearing gemmae in pale golfball-like spheres all around on costa apex.

Habitat: Not producing sporophytes in flora area. Tree trunks and logs in hammock vegetation
Elevation: low elevations (0 m)

Fla., Mexico, West Indies (Grand Bahama, Haiti, Puerto Rico), South America (s Brazil), Asia, Africa, Indian Ocean Islands, Pacific Islands, Australia.

Discussion

Calymperes tenerum is very rare in the flora area, where it is known only from a few specimens from southern peninsular Florida. Its absence of teniolae, narrow cancellinae, and gemmae in golfball-like spheres make it distinctive. This species has a very wide distribution in the tropical parts of the world and is very common in the paleotropics; it is extremely scarce in the Neotropics, suggesting that it is an introduction there.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa