Status: Native
Synonyms:
Bryum gemmilucens R. Wilczek & Demaret
The most distinctive feature of Gemmabryum gemmilucens is that it can have more than 10 football-shaped gemmae per leaf axil. The gemmae do not have obvious leaf primordia. Unlike more common forms of Gemmabryum gemmilucens, the total height of our shoots is only about 1 or 2mm and unlike the commonest form of Gemmabryum gemmilucens, the leaves on these shoots nearly all have strong costas excurrent into awns that are about 1/3 the length of the lamina. There is no well-developed limbidium although the cells are somewhat longer and the margins are plane though the leaves can be quite concave. These shoots are found growing mixed with other mosses at the bases of boulders in the Upper Chihuahuan desert with cactus and ocotillo at 4,600 feet elevation where some rain is received in the summer monsoon season and very little moisture arrives in the spring. A specimen from California has shorter awns and the shoots are longer. The habitats are very dissimilar, but apparently they represent the same species.
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Gemmabryum gemmilucens, habitat, photo Russ Kleinman & Kelly Allred, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, habit, photo Kelly Allred, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, habit, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, closeup of habit, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, single stem with axillary gemmae, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, single stem with axillary gemmae after spreading leaves to expose gemmae, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, single stem with axillary gemmae after removing bottom leaves to expose gemmae, photo Kelly Allred, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, photomicrograph of clustered stalked gemmae in leaf axils, photo Kelly Allred, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, photomicrograph of stalked gemmae in leaf axils, photo Kelly Allred, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, photomicrograph of gemmae, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, photomicrograph of leaf, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, photomicrograph of leaf, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, photomicrograph of leaf margins showing no well-developed limbidium, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, photomicrograph of about a dozen gemmae in one leaf axil, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, photomicrograph of nearly quadrate cells at leaf base, photo Kelly Allred, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, photomicrograph of leaf apex, photo Kelly Allred, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, photomicrograph of lamina, photo Kelly Allred, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
Gemmabryum gemmilucens, photomicrograph of single gemma, photo Kelly Allred, Luna county, Tres Hermanas mountains, March 15, 2022
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