Kiaeria in Moss Flora of China @ efloras.org

19. Kiaeria I. Hagen, Kongel. Norske Vidensk. Selsk. Skr. (Trondheim). 1914(1): 109. 1915.

Plants minute to large, green or yellowish, in dense or sparsely radiculose tufts. Stems erect or ascending, simple or 2–3-branched; central strand absent. Leaves lanceolate from narrowly ovate base, gradually subulate to subtubulose apex, falcate-secund or flexuose or crispate when dry, erect-spreading when moist; margins plane, entire or serrulate at the apex; costa narrow, percurrent to excurrent, with stereid cells and median guide cells poorly differentiated; upper cells subquadrate to linear, smooth or slightly mammillose; lower cells elongate-rectangular, sometimes porose; alar cells not or weakly differentiated. Autoicous or polygamous. Perigonia sessile or terminal on branches. Perichaetial leaves larger and sheathing at base. Setae straight, elongate, reddish brownish; capsules ovoid to shortly cylindric, suberect to inclined, somewhat curved, usually strumose, smooth or somewhat furrowed when dry; opercula small, obliquely rostrate; annuli simple, persistent or compound, deciduous; peristome teeth 16, divided or perforated down to the middle, yellowish, papillose above, vertically striate, reddish brown below. Calyptrae not seen. Spores spherical, brownish, finely papillose.

Kiaeria is characterized by the nearly homogenous structure of the costa. There are 5 species of Kiaeria in the world. Four species are known from China.

1 Upper leaf cells elongate-rectangular, smooth; alar cells well differentiated, reddish brown; capsules strongly strumose (2)

+ Upper leaf cells short-rectangular or quadrate, slightly mammillose; alar cells not or weakly differentiated, pale or nearly hyaline; capsules indistinctly strumose (3)

2 (1) Plants robust, 1-7(-12) cm high; leaf cells more or less porose throughout; annuli in 1 row of large cells 3 Kiaeria glacialis

+ Plants usually slender, 1-2(-6) cm high; leaf cells porose only in the lower half; annuli in 2-3 rows of cells 4 Kiaeria starkei

3 (1) Leaves usually flexuose or somewhat crispate when dry; annuli compound, in 3 row of large cells, deciduous 1 Kiaeria blyttii

+ Leaves usually falcate-secund; annuli simple, of small cells, persistent 2 Kiaeria falcata

Lower Taxa