- Email: [email protected]
The earliest recognition of Racomitrium albipiliferum (Musci, Grimmiaceae)
Cryptogamie, Btyol., 1999, 20 (3): 181-184
181
The earliest recognition of Racomitrium albipiliferum (Musci, Grimmiaceae) Halina BEDNAREK-OCHYRA Laboratory
of Bryology, Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Lubicz 46, 31512 Krakow, Poland. [email protected] (Received 14 October 1998, accepted 15 March 1999)
- It is shownthatRacomitriumalbipiliferumGao& Cao,a narrowHimalayanendemic which was only recently describedfrom Xizang, China, hadbeenfirst recognizedas a separate speciesunderthe epithet ‘pilosissimumasearly as 1909by V.F. Brothems,but it wasa typical herbariumnamewhichhasneverbeenvalidly published.Theoriginalcollectionof thisundescribed speciesis illustratedandbriefly discussed. 0 ADAC I Elsevier,Paris Abstract
Bryopsida
I Musci I Grimmiaceae
/ Himalayas
I Sikkim I taxonomy
I Racomitrium
In his taxonomic revision of the Racomitrium heterostichumcomplex, Frisvoll (1988) described Racomitrium capillifolium Frisv. as belonging within the sect. Subsecunda Bedn.-Ochyra (Bednarek-Ochyra, 1995). It is a remarkable species,endemic in the Himalayan region including Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and the state of Darjeeling in India. Despite its distinctivenessthe speciesescapedthe notice of collectors and was discovered and described only recently. The majority of specimenscited in the protologue were collected from the late 1950s onwards and only two collections came from the 19th century. Apart from the type variety Frisvoll(l988) recognized var. lorifolium Hampe ex Frisv. within this species,most specimensof which are of recent origin, although the type itself was collected by W. S. Kurz in the 1860s in Sikkim and published as a nomen nudum by Jager (1874). Although describedvery recently, Racomitrium capillifolium had been discovered several years earlier. Gao et al. (1981) described from Xizang (Tibet) R. albipilifer-urnGao & Cao, which appearedto be identical to R. capillifolium (Cao & Gao, 1992). Nonetheless, it seemed to me quite surprising that this species, exhibiting a very characteristic woolly appearancebecauseof its exceedingly long hyaline hair-points, could have been overlooked by bryologists for such a long time, whereasseveral smaller and less prominent species, for instance R.fuscescens Wils. in Mitt. & Wils. or R. cucullatulum Broth., were correctly described in the early days of bryological exploration of the Himalayan-Yunnan region. When examining the herbarium collections of Racomitrium in the Brotherus herbarium in Helsinki and at BM, I traced a number of specieswhose nameshave never been published.One of them, originating from the “Herbarium (or Bryotheca) E. Levier”, was named in 1909 by V. F. Brotherus as ‘pilosissimum’and the epithet clearly referred to the exceedingly long hyaline hair-points of the upper leaves. The specimen in the Brotherus herbarium is accompaniedby a slip of paper on which he showedthe diagnostic
W. Bednaxek-Ochyra
Fig. 1. ~~c~~i~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~rnGao & Cao in Gao, Zhzmg & Cao. 1: Habit. 2: Portion of branch. 3-5: Leaves. 5: Upper cells. 7: Midleaf cells. & Basal marginal ceils. 9-11: Leaf cross-sections (All drawn from Levier 7944, H). - Scale bars: a: 1 mm (3-5); b: f cm (1); c: 2 mm (2) and 100 m (6-l 1).
The earliest recognition of Racomittium albipiliferum
183
characters of this new species, namely short-rectangular, hyaline basal marginal cells. Examination of the material revealed that a very good specimen of R. albipiliferum was at hand. The plants called ‘pilosissimum’ (Fig. 1) are somewhat larger than those of the types of R. albipiliferum and R. capillifolium. They are loosely tufted, 5.5-6.5 cm tall, greyish and woolly because of the presence of numerous very long hair-points. The leaves consist of laminae, 2-3 mm long and OS-O.8 mm wide, terminating in very long, capillaceus awns. These are flat to canaliculate, erect, not or weakly flexuose, distantly denticulate to almost smooth. They are 4-6 mm long in the uppermost leaves and become shorter, 1.5-3.0 mm long in the lower leaves. The laminal cells are unistratose throughout, elongate, 2M5 pm long, 7-8 pm wide and become thick-walled with very narrow lumina, to 3 pm wide, at the base. The leaf margins are narrowly recurved on both sides to the apex or in the lower three quarters of the lamina, unistratose but frequently intermittently bistratose in one row of cells. The alar cells are decurrent but not differentiated, and the basal marginal cells are thin-walled, esinuose, pellucid and hyaline, quadrate to short-rectangular forming a border of 20-30 cells. The costa is broad below, 80-100 pm wide at the base, gradually tapering upwards, bistratose throughout, occasionally tristratose in places below, consisting of 4-6 larger ventral cells in the lower half. The material is entirely sterile. The diagnostic features of the plants named ‘pilosissimum’ are all typical of the type variety of R. albipiliferum. R. albipiliferum var. lorifolium (Hampe ex Frisv.) Cao & Gao is easily separated from var. albipiliferum by possessing shorter hair-points only 3.0-3.5 mm long, which are flexuose and variously spirally twisted. In addition, the alar cells in var. Zorifolium are somewhat enlarged and subauriculate and the basal marginal border is shorter, consisting of lo-20 thick-walled, esinuose to slightly sinuose cells.
Racomib-ium
albipiliferum
Gao & Cao in Gao, Zhang
8~ Cao
Acta Bot. Yunnanica 3: 396,J: 9-17. 1981. - ‘Ijpe: China, Xizang: Districtus Dinggye Xian, ad rupes, 4.VI.1975, Lang kai-yong 1116 (Isotype: KRAM!). R. capillifolium Frisv., Gunneria 59: 173, $ 47. 1988. - Type: Bhutan, Thimphu district: above Pajoding monasteries; Thimphu, 27O29’N, 89”34’E; Juniper/Rhododendronscrub on hillside; on boulder, 3 750 m; 16 April 1982, D. G. Long 10884 (Holotype: E!; isotype: NY!). Racomitrium pilosissimum Broth. in sched. - Specimensexamined: Sikkim Himalaya, district Datjeeling Chhangoo, 14 300 ft-4 385 m; 17 Nov 1908, leg. Ribu pro E. Long 61 (Levier 7944 in BM and H-BR). Acknowledgements. I am gratefulto the Curatorsat BM, E, H andNY for making availablethe relevant type collectionson loan. Specialthanksare due to ProfessorCao Tong, Shenyang,for sendingmeasgift a portionof the type collectionof Racomitriumalbipiliferumand supplyingnot easilyaccessible Chinesebryologicalpapers.I amalsogreatly indebtedto Mr Arthur Copping,Diss,UK, for kindly correctingthe English.
REFERENCES
BEDNAREK-OCHYRA H., 1995 - Rodzaj Racomitrium(Musci, Grimmiaceae)w Polsce: taksonomia,ekologiai fitogeografia[The genusRacomitrium(Musci, Grirnmiaceae)in Poland:taxonomy,ecologyandphytogeography].FragmentaFloristica et Geobotanica, SeriesPolonica2: 3-307 (in Polishwith extensiveEnglishsummary).
184
H. Bednarek-Ochyra
CA0 T. & GAO CH., 1992 - Racomitrium capillijXum Frisvoll: a synonym of Racomitrium albipiliferum Gao et Cao (Bryopsida: Grimmiaceae). Nova Hedwigia 54: 147-149. FRISVOLL A.A., 1988 - A taxonomic revision of the Racomitrium heterostichum group (Bryophyta, Grimmiaceae) in N. and C. America, Europe and Asia. Gunneria 59: l-289. GAO CH., WANG G.-C. & CA0 T., 1981- Taxa nova bryophytarum tibeticarum. Acta Botanica Yunnanica 3(4): 389-399. JAGER A., 1874 - Genera et species muscorum systematicae disposita seu adumbratio florae muscorum totius orbis terrarum. Berichte iiber die Thiitigkeit der St. Gall&hen Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaf 1872-1873: 61-236.
181
The earliest recognition of Racomitrium albipiliferum (Musci, Grimmiaceae) Halina BEDNAREK-OCHYRA Laboratory
of Bryology, Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Lubicz 46, 31512 Krakow, Poland. [email protected] (Received 14 October 1998, accepted 15 March 1999)
- It is shownthatRacomitriumalbipiliferumGao& Cao,a narrowHimalayanendemic which was only recently describedfrom Xizang, China, hadbeenfirst recognizedas a separate speciesunderthe epithet ‘pilosissimumasearly as 1909by V.F. Brothems,but it wasa typical herbariumnamewhichhasneverbeenvalidly published.Theoriginalcollectionof thisundescribed speciesis illustratedandbriefly discussed. 0 ADAC I Elsevier,Paris Abstract
Bryopsida
I Musci I Grimmiaceae
/ Himalayas
I Sikkim I taxonomy
I Racomitrium
In his taxonomic revision of the Racomitrium heterostichumcomplex, Frisvoll (1988) described Racomitrium capillifolium Frisv. as belonging within the sect. Subsecunda Bedn.-Ochyra (Bednarek-Ochyra, 1995). It is a remarkable species,endemic in the Himalayan region including Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and the state of Darjeeling in India. Despite its distinctivenessthe speciesescapedthe notice of collectors and was discovered and described only recently. The majority of specimenscited in the protologue were collected from the late 1950s onwards and only two collections came from the 19th century. Apart from the type variety Frisvoll(l988) recognized var. lorifolium Hampe ex Frisv. within this species,most specimensof which are of recent origin, although the type itself was collected by W. S. Kurz in the 1860s in Sikkim and published as a nomen nudum by Jager (1874). Although describedvery recently, Racomitrium capillifolium had been discovered several years earlier. Gao et al. (1981) described from Xizang (Tibet) R. albipilifer-urnGao & Cao, which appearedto be identical to R. capillifolium (Cao & Gao, 1992). Nonetheless, it seemed to me quite surprising that this species, exhibiting a very characteristic woolly appearancebecauseof its exceedingly long hyaline hair-points, could have been overlooked by bryologists for such a long time, whereasseveral smaller and less prominent species, for instance R.fuscescens Wils. in Mitt. & Wils. or R. cucullatulum Broth., were correctly described in the early days of bryological exploration of the Himalayan-Yunnan region. When examining the herbarium collections of Racomitrium in the Brotherus herbarium in Helsinki and at BM, I traced a number of specieswhose nameshave never been published.One of them, originating from the “Herbarium (or Bryotheca) E. Levier”, was named in 1909 by V. F. Brotherus as ‘pilosissimum’and the epithet clearly referred to the exceedingly long hyaline hair-points of the upper leaves. The specimen in the Brotherus herbarium is accompaniedby a slip of paper on which he showedthe diagnostic
W. Bednaxek-Ochyra
Fig. 1. ~~c~~i~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~rnGao & Cao in Gao, Zhzmg & Cao. 1: Habit. 2: Portion of branch. 3-5: Leaves. 5: Upper cells. 7: Midleaf cells. & Basal marginal ceils. 9-11: Leaf cross-sections (All drawn from Levier 7944, H). - Scale bars: a: 1 mm (3-5); b: f cm (1); c: 2 mm (2) and 100 m (6-l 1).
The earliest recognition of Racomittium albipiliferum
183
characters of this new species, namely short-rectangular, hyaline basal marginal cells. Examination of the material revealed that a very good specimen of R. albipiliferum was at hand. The plants called ‘pilosissimum’ (Fig. 1) are somewhat larger than those of the types of R. albipiliferum and R. capillifolium. They are loosely tufted, 5.5-6.5 cm tall, greyish and woolly because of the presence of numerous very long hair-points. The leaves consist of laminae, 2-3 mm long and OS-O.8 mm wide, terminating in very long, capillaceus awns. These are flat to canaliculate, erect, not or weakly flexuose, distantly denticulate to almost smooth. They are 4-6 mm long in the uppermost leaves and become shorter, 1.5-3.0 mm long in the lower leaves. The laminal cells are unistratose throughout, elongate, 2M5 pm long, 7-8 pm wide and become thick-walled with very narrow lumina, to 3 pm wide, at the base. The leaf margins are narrowly recurved on both sides to the apex or in the lower three quarters of the lamina, unistratose but frequently intermittently bistratose in one row of cells. The alar cells are decurrent but not differentiated, and the basal marginal cells are thin-walled, esinuose, pellucid and hyaline, quadrate to short-rectangular forming a border of 20-30 cells. The costa is broad below, 80-100 pm wide at the base, gradually tapering upwards, bistratose throughout, occasionally tristratose in places below, consisting of 4-6 larger ventral cells in the lower half. The material is entirely sterile. The diagnostic features of the plants named ‘pilosissimum’ are all typical of the type variety of R. albipiliferum. R. albipiliferum var. lorifolium (Hampe ex Frisv.) Cao & Gao is easily separated from var. albipiliferum by possessing shorter hair-points only 3.0-3.5 mm long, which are flexuose and variously spirally twisted. In addition, the alar cells in var. Zorifolium are somewhat enlarged and subauriculate and the basal marginal border is shorter, consisting of lo-20 thick-walled, esinuose to slightly sinuose cells.
Racomib-ium
albipiliferum
Gao & Cao in Gao, Zhang
8~ Cao
Acta Bot. Yunnanica 3: 396,J: 9-17. 1981. - ‘Ijpe: China, Xizang: Districtus Dinggye Xian, ad rupes, 4.VI.1975, Lang kai-yong 1116 (Isotype: KRAM!). R. capillifolium Frisv., Gunneria 59: 173, $ 47. 1988. - Type: Bhutan, Thimphu district: above Pajoding monasteries; Thimphu, 27O29’N, 89”34’E; Juniper/Rhododendronscrub on hillside; on boulder, 3 750 m; 16 April 1982, D. G. Long 10884 (Holotype: E!; isotype: NY!). Racomitrium pilosissimum Broth. in sched. - Specimensexamined: Sikkim Himalaya, district Datjeeling Chhangoo, 14 300 ft-4 385 m; 17 Nov 1908, leg. Ribu pro E. Long 61 (Levier 7944 in BM and H-BR). Acknowledgements. I am gratefulto the Curatorsat BM, E, H andNY for making availablethe relevant type collectionson loan. Specialthanksare due to ProfessorCao Tong, Shenyang,for sendingmeasgift a portionof the type collectionof Racomitriumalbipiliferumand supplyingnot easilyaccessible Chinesebryologicalpapers.I amalsogreatly indebtedto Mr Arthur Copping,Diss,UK, for kindly correctingthe English.
REFERENCES
BEDNAREK-OCHYRA H., 1995 - Rodzaj Racomitrium(Musci, Grimmiaceae)w Polsce: taksonomia,ekologiai fitogeografia[The genusRacomitrium(Musci, Grirnmiaceae)in Poland:taxonomy,ecologyandphytogeography].FragmentaFloristica et Geobotanica, SeriesPolonica2: 3-307 (in Polishwith extensiveEnglishsummary).
184
H. Bednarek-Ochyra
CA0 T. & GAO CH., 1992 - Racomitrium capillijXum Frisvoll: a synonym of Racomitrium albipiliferum Gao et Cao (Bryopsida: Grimmiaceae). Nova Hedwigia 54: 147-149. FRISVOLL A.A., 1988 - A taxonomic revision of the Racomitrium heterostichum group (Bryophyta, Grimmiaceae) in N. and C. America, Europe and Asia. Gunneria 59: l-289. GAO CH., WANG G.-C. & CA0 T., 1981- Taxa nova bryophytarum tibeticarum. Acta Botanica Yunnanica 3(4): 389-399. JAGER A., 1874 - Genera et species muscorum systematicae disposita seu adumbratio florae muscorum totius orbis terrarum. Berichte iiber die Thiitigkeit der St. Gall&hen Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaf 1872-1873: 61-236.