Title: Venturiella sinensis (Vent.) C. M. in Texas
Abstract: Several years ago Mr. Julian A. Steyermark and Mr. John Adam Moore asked me to name a small collection of mosses from the mountains of western Texas. The report of their expedition was recently published' but the occurrence of this monotypic genus in North America is of such unusual interest that I thought it would be worth while to bring the fact to a wider circle of bryological readers. Venturiella sinensis is known from a rather limited area comprising Japan, Korea, and eastern China. How to account for this astonishing leap in geographical distribution is beyond my power or courage to suggest. The similarity between the vegetation of Japan and that of the eastern United States is well established. A number of the characteristic mosses of northwestern North America range across the Aleutian Islands to eastern Asia, but the presence of this cortical species in one of the isolated mountain ranges of arid western Texas seems to defy any logical explanation. Under a hand lens the hyaline-tipped leaves, immersed fruit and plicate calyptrae are suggestive of Coscinodon but the ecostate leaves and peristome characters brought out by a higher magnification locate it easily. My first thought was that it would prove to be specifically distinct from the Asiatic plants but a careful comparison with authentic collections from Japan fails to reveal any tangible differences. The Texas locality is in McKittrick Canyon, Guadalupe Mountains, Culberson Co., on bark of Acer grandidentatum var. brachypterum, alt. I980 m. The only known locality for Ptychomitrium serratum Schp. in the United States is in this same Canyon. If these records are fair indications it is evident that a thorough bryological survey of this immediate region would amply reward the effort. BUSHKILL, PIKE Co., PA.
Publication Year: 1934
Publication Date: 1934-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 3
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