Taxonomic Results of the BRYOTROP Expedition to Zaire and Rwanda 21. Mniaceae

Abstract

The specimen represents a rather typical African form of this taxon. The marginal teeth of the leaf are small and the leaf cells near isodiametric, but on the basis of the clearly differentiated juxtacostal cells, the specimen belongs to var. rhynchophyrum. Two other tropical African species are Plagiomnium cuspidatum (Hedw.) T. Kop. and P. undulatum (Hedw.) T. Kop. which differ by having an acute or cuspidate leaf apex, which in P. rhynchophorum tends to be emarginate and apiculate, and having sharper and larger projecting marginal teeth on their leaves. The distribution of P. rhynchophyrum is mapped and African specimens listed in Koponen (1981).