Pear moss
| Pear moss | ||||||||||||
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Bryum capillare together with Grimmia pulvinata on an old gravestone. |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Bryum | ||||||||||||
| Hedw. |
The pear moss ( Bryum ) are one of the largest genera of the moss with around 1000 species .
description
They are mostly small, upright to ascending growing mosses that are only slightly branched. The mosses are lively green, often clearly reddish in color, and also silvery in Bryum argenteum .
The leaves are lanceolate in all species, but somewhat broadened at the front in some species. The central rib of the leaves is strong and extends to the leaf tip. In many species it also emerges as a short, green, reddish or colorless spike tip.
The cells of the leaf blade are rhombic to hexagonal, but almost always longer than wide. Most species only have a border of strongly elongated cells on the always entire leaf margin.
The capsule stands hanging or nodding on the seta and is mostly pear-shaped - hence the German name of the genus - to cylindrical. The capsules often have a pronounced neck.
Many species reproduce vegetatively through brood bodies that are formed on the rhizoids .
Distribution and location requirements
The genus is distributed worldwide. Most species grow in relatively weak locations on sand or soil, sometimes on rock, and very rarely on bark. Some species (e.g. Bryum salinum and Bryum marrattii ) specialize in salt soils.
Systematics and European species
The genus is presumably currently in vigorous species formation. Around 1000 species have been described worldwide, plus many small and subspecies.
However, some of the common types are extremely variable. In addition, hybrids are often formed in the genus , and there are often small populations that differ greatly in individual characteristics.
It will be some time before the relationships are satisfactorily clarified. The list (after Wolfgang Frey and Jan-Peter Frahm ) of the European species should also be understood in this sense .
Common Central European species
- Bryum argenteum
- Bryum bicolor
- Bryum caespiticium
- Bryum capillare
- Bryum intermedium
- Bryum pallens
- Bryum pallescens
- Bryum pseudotriquetrum
List of European species
- Bryum algovicum
- Bryum alpinum s. l.
- Bryum archangelicum
- Bryum arcticum
- Bryum argenteum
- Bryum atrovirens s. l.
- Bryum axel-blyttii
- Bryum badium
- Bryum bicolor s. l.
- Bryum bimum
- Bryum blindii
- Bryum caespiticium
- Bryum calophyllum
- Bryum capillare s. l.
- Bryum cellulare
- Bryum comense
- Bryum creberrimum
- Bryum cryophilum
- Bryum curvatum
- Bryum cyclophyllum
- Bryum dixonii
- Bryum funckii
- Bryum imbricatum
- Bryum intermedium
- Bryum knowltonii
- Bryum kunzei
- Bryum lawersianum
- Bryum longisetum
- Bryum mamillatum
- Bryum marrattii
- Bryum neodamense
- Bryum nitidulum
- Bryum oblongum
- Bryum pallens
- Bryum pallescens
- Bryum pseudotriquetrum
- Bryum purpurascens
- Bryum rutilans
- Bryum salinum
- Bryum schleicheri
- Bryum subelegans
- Bryum subneodamense
- Bryum turbinatum
- Bryum uliginosum
- Bryum veronense
- Bryum warneum
- Bryum weigelii
- Bryum wrightii
Sources and further information
literature
- Jan-Peter Frahm , Wolfgang Frey : Moosflora (= UTB . 1250). Ulmer, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-8001-2463-7 .
- Wolfgang Frey, Jan-Peter Frahm, Eberhard Fischer, Wolfram Lobin : The moss and fern plants of Europe (= small cryptogam flora. Vol. 4). Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart et al. 1995, ISBN 3-437-30756-8 .
Web links
- Bryum Hedw. Information on publications, synonyms, etc. at Tropicos, Missouri Botanical Garden.
- Bryum. Catalog of Life , Annual Checklist 2019 (English)