1. Daltonia Hooker & Taylor, Muscol. Brit. 80, plates 3 [near upper left], 22 [lower center left & right]. 1818. • [For Rev. John Dalton, 1764-1843, British botanist and bryologist].
[name conserved]
Plants glossy. Stems prostrate or suberect, branches short, ascending. Leaves erect, sometimes flexuose-twisted and contorted when dry, flexuose when moist, ovate-lanceolate, ligulate- to lance-acuminate, symmetric, straight, keeled; margins entire, strongly bordered, cells linear, incrassate, several rows; costa ending before apex in distal 1/4; laminal cells usually uniformly rhomboidal to elongate-hexagonal, walls usually incrassate; basal cells sometimes rounded, longer, smooth. Sexual condition autoicous or synoicous. Seta roughened distally [smooth]. Capsule erect to subinclined; exothecial cells strongly collenchymatous; exostome teeth hygrocastique (teeth incurved when dry and reflexed when moist), densely papillose, with zigzag longitudinal lines, not striate, not furrowed; endostome segments linear, narrow, same length as teeth, perforate along keel. Calyptra smooth to somewhat roughened distally, basal fringe hairs dense. Spores papillose.
Species ca. 22 (1 in the flora): nw North America, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Atlantic Islands, Indian Ocean Islands, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia.
SELECTED REFERENCE Majestyk, P. 2011. A taxonomic treatment of Daltonia (Musci: Daltoniaceae) in the Americas. J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 5: 553-575.
