Classification
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Bryoerythrophyllum P.C.Chen, Hedwigia 80: 4 (1941)
Synonymy:
  • Erythrophyllum (Lindb.) Loeske, Hedwigia 47: 175 (1908) nom. illeg., non Erythrophyllum J.Agardh 1872
  • Barbula sect. Erythrophyllum Lindb. in Braithwaite, Brit. Moss Fl. 1, 260 (1887)
  • Erythrobarbula Steere, Bryologist 54: 191 (1951) nom. illeg., nom. nov. pro Erythrophyllum (Lindb.) Loeske 1908
Etymology:
The generic name is derived from bryon (moss) + erythros (red) + phyllon (leaf), referring to the reddish hue of older leaves.
 Description

The following generic description is modified from Zander (1993).

Plants usually green above and often brick-red below, forming turves or tufts on soil or rock. Stems occasionally branched, in cross-section central strand present, sclerodermis usually present (weak in N.Z. species), hyalodermis usually absent. Leaves erect-spreading to spreading when moist, ± erect-twisted when dry, ovate to lanceolate or lingulate, rounded-obtuse to acute (in N.Z. species); margins recurved or plane, entire or crenulate-papillose and often dentate above; upper laminal cells obscure, subquadrate (in N.Z. species) to short-rectangular, pluripapillose with complex papillae; upper marginal cells not differentiated or ± oblate in 1–2 rows; lower laminal cells usually thin-walled, hyaline and rectangular. Costa failing a few cells before apex to short-excurrent, in cross-section with 2 stereid bands. Laminal KOH colour reaction orange-red to red.

Dioicous or occasionally monoicous. Perichaetia terminal, with leaves usually larger than vegetative leaves and sheathing in their lower half. Perigonia terminal, bulbiform. Setae elongate. Capsules ellipsoid to cylindric, sometimes arcuate; annulus well developed. Operculum short-conic to short-rostrate. Peristome well developed (in N.Z. species), rudimentary or none. Spores 8–18 µm, smooth or papillose.

 Taxonomy

An essentially cosmopolitan genus of some 27 species, only two of which are found in N.Z.

 Key
1Leaves lingulate, 1–1.5 mm, leaf margin recurved below or plane throughout, costa in cross-section at mid leaf with stereids exposed on both facesB. dubium
1'Leaves linear-lanceolate from a broader sheathing base, 2–3 mm, leaf margin recurved ± throughout, costa in cross-section at mid leaf with stereids exposed on abaxial face onlyB. recurvirostrum
 Recognition

N.Z. species of Bryoerythrophyllum may be recognised by a suite of leaf characters: lower leaves often brick-red, upper laminal cells densely pluripapillose and sometimes with a conspicuous single-celled hyaline apiculus terminating the acute leaf apex, a prominent area of lax, hyaline, thin-walled cells in the lower lamina, and an orange-red to red laminal KOH reaction. In addition, a few teeth are sometimes present on the upper laminal margin.

Bryoerythrophyllum species have been confused with members of several other genera. Hyophila leaves may have a brick-red coloration, but broadly acute to obtuse leaf apices that lack a hyaline apiculus. Trichostomopsis australasiae is superficially similar to both N.Z. species of Bryoerythrophyllum, and also has hyaline, thin-walled lower laminal cells. However, the leaf margins in T. australasiae are bistratose above and the leaf apex is usually narrowly obtuse, and lacking both a hyaline apiculus and teeth. In addition, the brick-red colour of Bryoerythrophyllum does not occur in T. australasiae. Both Streblotrichum convolutum and Syntrichia phaea may have a similar hyaline leaf apiculus. S. convolutum can be distinguished by its lower laminal cells being little differentiated from those above (vs strongly differentiated lax, hyaline, thin-walled lower laminal cells in Bryoerythrophyllum) and a yellow laminal KOH reaction (vs orange-red to red in Bryoerythrophyllum). Syntrichia phaea differs in colour, being very dark green or even black (vs mid-green above, often brick-red below in species of Bryoerythrophyllum).

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
Number of species in New Zealand within Bryoerythrophyllum P.C.Chen
CategoryNumber
Indigenous (Non-endemic)2
Total2
 Excluded Taxa

Bryoerythrophyllum alpigenum (Vent.) P.C.Chen.

Records for N.Z. (Gangulee 1969–1972, p. 741; Zander 1993, p. 292) are presumed to stem from the acceptance by Dixon (1923, p. 125) of Didymodon rubellus var. dentatus Schimp. as a N.Z. moss, and the subsequent synonymy of that taxon with B. alpigenum, proposed by Chen (1941). The type of B. alpigenum has not been seen for this study, but comparison of descriptions and illustrations for the taxon provided by Chen (1941, p. 258) indicate that leaf margin recurvature is more extensive in N.Z. material (confined to the middle ⅓ or ½ of the leaf length in Chen’s illustrations of B. alpigenum) and toothing much less (conspicuous teeth present on the distal ½ of the leaves in B. alpigenum). B. alpigenum is thus not accepted for the N.Z. flora.

 Bibliography
Beever, J.E. 2024: Pottiaceae subfamily Barbuloideae. In: Heenan, P.B. (ed.) Flora of New Zealand — Mosses. Fascicle 50. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln.
Braithwaite, R. 1880–1887: The British moss-flora. Vol. I. Acrocarpi I. Reeve, London.
Chen, P.-C. 1941: Studien über die ostasiatischen Arten der Pottiaceae.1–II. Hedwigia 80: 1–76, 141–322.
Dixon, H.N. 1923: Studies in the bryology of New Zealand, with special reference to the herbarium of Robert Brown. Part III. Bulletin, New Zealand Institute 3(3): 75–152.
Gangulee, H.C. 1969–1972: Mosses of Eastern India and Adjacent Regions. Vol. 1. (fascicles 1-3: Sphagnidae, Andreaeidae, Nematodonteae Haplolepideae). Calcutta.
Goffinet, B.; Buck, W.R.; Shaw, A.J. 2009: Morphology, anatomy, and classification of the Bryophyta. In: Goffinet, B.; Shaw, A.J. (ed.) Bryophyte Biology. Edition 2. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 55–138.
Loeske, L. 1908: Die moose des Arlberggebietes. Hedwigia 47: 156–199.
Steere, W.C. 1951: Bryophyta of Arctic America. IV. The Mosses of Cornwallis Island. Bryologist 54: 181–202.
Zander, R.H. 1993: Genera of the Pottiaceae: mosses of harsh environments. Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences 32: i–vi, 1–378.