Rhacocarpus purpurascens Paris 1900

Rhacocarpus purpurascens

Rhacocarpus purpurascens (Brid.) Par., Ind. Bryol. Suppl. 292, 1900.

Hypnum purpurascens Brid., Sp. Musc. 2:121, 1812. [Original material: Plaine des Chicots, Reunion Isl., coll. Bory St. Vincent, 1798–1802.]

Anictangium humboldtii Hook., Pl. Crypt. Plag. Orb. Nov. Aequin. Humboldt et Bonpland la, 1816. [Original material: Quindiu, ca. 9480 ft, Novo-Granada, coll. Humboldt & Bonpland, 1799–1804.]

Anoectangium humboldtii var. australis Hook. f. & Wils., Fl. Antarct. 1:135, 1844. [Original material: Auckland Isl., 1400 ft, and Campbell Isl., 600 ft., coll. J. D. Hooker, 1839–1843.]

Harrisonia mandonii C. Müll., Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital. n. ser., 4:140, 1897. [Original material: Luncha de Cochipato, Sorata, Prov. Larecaja, Bolivia, 3200 m, coll. Mandon n. 1639, Mar. 1858.]

Harrisonia uleana C. Müll., Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 47:389, 1897. [Original material: Insula Santa Catharina, Brasil, coll. E. Ule n. 151, Feb. 1887.]

Harrisonia pallidipila C. Müll., Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 47:393, 1897. [Original material: Serra de Caraca, coll. E. Ule n. 1463, Mar. 1892.]

Harrisonia rubiginosa C. Müll., Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 47:393, 1897. [Original material: Serra Itatiaia, 2300 m, Brasil, coll. E. Ule n. 436–1855, Feb. 1894 (US!).]

Harrisonia flavipila C. Müll., Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 47:394, 1897. [Original material: Lesuer, Guadeloupe, W. Ind., coll. Forsström.]

Harrisonia crasso-limbata C. Müll., Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 47:394, 1897. [Original material: Hermite Isl., Cape Horn, coll. J. D. Hooker, 1843.]

Harrisonia appendiculata C. Müll., Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 47:396, 1897. [Original material: Agulhas Negras, Serra Itatiaia, 2300 m, Brasil, coll. E. Ule n. 1859, Mar. 1894 (lectotype, present designation; US!).]

Harrisonia rubro-cincta C. Müll., Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 47:396, 1897. [Original material: Southern Brasil, coll. Glaziou n. 4528 (BM).]

Stems to 10 cm long, branches ca. 1 cm long. Leaf lamina to 1.5 mm long, 0.7 mm wide, acute to rounded above, with piliferous tip to 0.5 mm long; margins narrowly shining, often reddish, entire except a few teeth at base of arista, upper margins often broadly incurved; upper cells 8–10 μm wide, 30–50 μm long, obscured by thick whitish or brownish cuticle; median basal cells less obscured, more reddish, with somewhat thicker, porose walls; large area of short, broad, rectangular alar cells, which are 15–17 μm wide and 15–22 μm long, having much-thickened lateral walls, very reddish when mature. Setae 1.25–2.0 cm long, slender, reddish. Capsule urn 1.5–2.0 mm long. Spores 20–22 μm in diameter, finely papillose.

MAS AFUERA: Camp Correspondencia, ca. 3800 ft, H. & E. 264, 464.

The species is known from East Africa, Reunion Island, Madagascar, Indonesia, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, and South America.