Pseudotrachypus ancistrodes (Renauld & Cardot) V.Nath & Bansal, 2010

Nath, Virendra & Bansal, Pooja, 2010, Pseudotrachypus ancistrodes, a new combination for Meteoriopsis ancistrodes (Meteoriaceae), Phytotaxa 3, pp. 43-46 : 44

Pseudotrachypus ancistrodes (Renauld & Cardot) V.Nath & Bansal , comb. nov. ( Figs. 1–11 )

Meteorium ancistrodes Renauld & Cardot, Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belg. 34(2): 72 (1896); Meteoriopsis ancistrodes (Renauld & Cardot) Brotherus in Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 1(3): 826 (1906); Meteoriopsis reclinata (Müller Hal.) M.Fleischer ex Brotherus var. ancistrodes (Renauld & Cardot) Noguchi J. Hattori Bot. Lab. 41: 338 (1976); Pseudobarbella ancistrodes (Renauld & Cardot) Manuel, Bryologist 80: 596 (1977).

Plants small, yellow-green, glossy. Secondary branches obtuse and acute at apex, pendulous, irregularly pinnately branched and densely foliate. Stems rounded or somewhat angular, but not dorsiventrally flattened; in section with an epidermis and a cortex of several layers of thick-walled, dark colored cells, with hyaline, parenchymatous cells towards the center of the stem, with a central strand of a few, small, thin-walled cells. Leaves dense, spreading at tips, ovate-lanceolate, canaliculate, gradually tapering to an elongate, subulate apex, 2.0–2.2 × 0.9–1.0 mm, recurved; margins sharply denticulate at tip; costa single, reaching mid–leaf; laminal cells linear to linear-rhomboidal, 2–3 papillose except at leaf apex and extreme base, 56–60 × 6–7 µm at apex and 40–48 × 5–6 µm in mid leaf, basal cells wider, alar cells differentiated, rectangular or subquadrate. Sporophytes not seen.

Specimens examined: –– INDIA: Kerala: Wayanad District, Periya Ashram , 31 October 2006, V . Nath, 229354A, 229357B, 229358B, 229359B, 229362D, 229363E, 229364A, 229365C, 229367D (all LWG).

Plants of Pseudotrachypus ancistrodes from South India closely approach those of Meteoriopsis reclinata in appearance, color, dense foliation, denticulate leaf apex, linear to rhomboidal leaf cells, etc., but differs in laminal cell size, number of papillae per leaf cell, etc. In M. reclinata laminal cells are linear to linear rhomboid with a thick–walled lumen, ± 38 × 4 µm at leaf apex, 35–45 × 3–4 µm at midleaf with a single papilla whereas in P. ancistrodes the laminal cells are linear–rhomboidal, 56–60 × 6–7 µm at the apex, 40–48 × 5–6 µm at midleaf with 2–3 small papillae. The specimens show some minor variation in the size of plants and leaves. The above variations could be ecological, attributable to the growth conditions of different populations.

Figures

FIGURES 1–11. Pseudotrachypus ancistrodes 1. Plant habit (diagrammatic). 2–3. Portions of plant. 4. Cross section of stem. 5–8. Leaves. 9. Apical laminal cells. 10. Median laminal cells. 11. Basal laminal cells.