Bryological Notes Lectotypification of Bryum moravicum Podp ...

Journal of Bryology (2005) 27: 161–168 

Bryological Notes 

Lectotypification of Bryum moravicum Podp. 

(Bryopsida: Bryaceae) 

Bryum moravicum was recently adopted (Holyoak, 2004) as 

the oldest name for the species named by Syed (1973), as 

Bryum laevifilum a European member of the Bryum 

capillare Hedw. complex with filiform axillary gemmae 

that commonly grows as an epiphyte on deciduous trees. 

The same taxon has also been incorrectly referred to in 

recent literature as B. flaccidum Brid. or B. subelegans 

Kindb. 

Josef Podpěra often labelled more than one specimen as 

type when he introduced a new name. In these cases it is 

desirable to locate the relevant specimens, check their 

identification and designate a lectotype to ensure that the 

name is correctly applied. Both Syed (1973) and Holyoak 

(2004) studied a specimen labelled as a type of Bryum 

moravicum by Podpěra that is housed in the Stockholm 

herbarium (S). However, in the original description 

Podpěra (1906) stated that his newly described species 

grew ‘in several places’, so that it might be inferred that 

several type specimens existed in his herbarium. Such 

additional type material might show greater variability than 

the specimen in S or perhaps even belong to other taxa 

within the Bryum capillare complex. The present paper 

describes the additional type material of Bryum moravicum 

and designates a lectotype. 

Most of Podpěra’s original herbarium is now deposited 

in the Cryptogamic Herbarium of the Department of 

Botany, Charles University of Prague in the Czech 

Republic (PR), but his collection of Bryum remained in 

the Herbarium Musei Moraviae at Brno in the Czech 

Republic (BRNM). Search at BRNM yielded five specimens 

of Bryum moravicum, collected at the locality [now in 

the Czech Republic] described in the protologue by 

Podpěra (1906), which can be translated from Czech as 

‘Ivančice: on wet rocks of Permian conglomerates in front 

of Rˇ eznovice on Oslava in several places’. There are 

four specimens (BRNM No. 163685, 163686, 163687, 

136388), labelled ‘Bryum moravicum Podp. 05’ with the 

locality: Ivančice: ad rupes, conglomerata permica pr. 

Rˇ eznovice, c. 250 m, IV.1905 leg. J. Podpěra’. The specimens 

are pencil-marked in Podpěra’s hand-writing I–IV, 

respectively, and were later annotated by him with 

‘B. capillare L. var. moravicum Podp. 1912’ (referring to 

his later combination of the taxon). A fifth specimen 

(BRNM No. 136384) was labelled by Podpěra ‘Bryum 

capillare var. moravicum Podp. 1912, Permkonglomerate im 

Iglawatale [5valley of Jihlávka] bei Eibenschitz 

[5Ivančice], 1905.IV. leg. J. Podpěra’. This specimen is 

marked in pencil with V; the locality might be identical to 

that of specimens I–IV since it is merely an inexact German 

translation. 

The specimen at S has data almost identical to that of 

specimens I–IV at BRNM (‘Flora moravica. Ivančice: ad 

rupes, conglomerata permica, pr. Rˇ eznovice, c. 250 m, 

IV.1905 leg. J. Podpěra’). 

Specimens I–IV at BRNM appear completely identical 

and were probably portions taken from the same tuft. 

Specimen V at BRNM also shows identical characters. Our 

descriptions and measurements, and the drawings in Syed 

(1973) suggest the specimen at S is closely similar to 

material at BRNM and the virtually identical data suggest 

it may be another portion of the same tuft as BRNM 

specimens I–IV. The characters of all of this material 

conform closely with the protologue of Bryum moravicum 

Podp. (Podpěra, 1906). 

All of the specimens include plants with remarkable 

narrow leaves like those figured by Syed (1973, p. 323, 

fig. 30a–d). However, as noted by Holyoak (2004) many of 

them have at least some broader lower leaves and some of 

the plants show leaf characters typical of B. laevifilum. To 

illustrate the variability in leaf shape, Fig. 1 shows several 

leaves from one plant of the specimen annotated by 

Podpěra with ‘I’ [designated below as the lectotype of B. 

moravicum]. The decurrent leaf base is shown in Fig. 2. 

Characters of the additional material thus support adoption 

of the name B. moravicum Podp. [1906] in place of B. 

laevifilum Syed [1973]. 

In Britain B. laevifilum seems to be almost an ‘obligate 

epiphyte’ (in the sense of Smith, 1982) rather than merely a 

‘facultative epiphyte’ like the closely allied and commoner 

B. capillare. Thus, Crundwell (1994) noted that B. 

laevifilum grows mainly ‘on trunks and branches of elder, 

ash, sycamore, maple and other trees’ occurring ‘more rarely 

on stumps, rotten logs, rocks or soil’. Nevertheless, 

the habitat of the types of B. moravicum on conglomerate 

rock need not imply it is a different species, since B. 

laevifilum has been reported (under various names) from 

rock substrata in, for example, Andorra (Townsend, 1999), 

Austria (Grims, 1999), Sweden (Syed, 1973; Weibull, 2001),

162 BRYOLOGICAL NOTES 

Figure 1. Four leaves from lectotype of Bryum moravicum Podp. to 

show variation in leaf shape. Note presence of filamentous gemmae. 

the middle and northern Urals (Goldberg, 2002a, b), eastern 

Siberia (Ignatov et al., 2001), the High Atlas of Morocco 

(Ros et al., 2000) and the U.S.A. (Syed, 1973). The 

occurrence of B. laevifilum on stones and rocks (usually 

slightly basic and shaded) in the Czech Republic is not 

exceptional, although even here the species is principally 

epiphytic. 

Lectotype, of Bryum moravicum Podp., Věstník Klubu 

Prˇírodovědeckého v Prostějově 8, p. 41, 1906, here designated: 

BRNM No. 136388 (Ivančice, ad rupes, conglomerata 

permica pr. Rˇ eznovice, c. 250 m, IV.1905, leg. J. 

Podpěra). 

The obvious duplicates of the lectotype specimen BRNM 

No. 136388 are regarded here as isolectotypes (BRNM No. 

163685, 163686, 163687) as is the specimen with almost 

identical data at S. BRNM No. 136384 (‘V’ of Podpěra) is 

regarded as a syntype, although it might in fact be another 

duplicate of the original collection (the label is somewhat 

ambiguous). 

The keeper of the BRNM herbarium is acknowledged 

for arranging a loan. A research visit enabling DTH 

to study Bryum at the Swedish Museum of Natural 

History (S) was funded by the HIGH LAT RESOURCE 

under the EC-funded IHP programme; thanks are due to 

Dr I. Bisang and Dr L. Hedenäs for help with this visit. 

TAXONOMIC ADDITIONS AND CHANGES: Bryum moravicum 

Podp.: lectotype designated. 

Figure 2. Decurrent leaf base of lectotype of Bryum moravicum Podp. 

REFERENCES 

Crundwell AC. 1994. Bryum subelegans. In: Hill MO, Preston CD, 

Smith AJE., eds. Atlas of the bryophytes of Britain and Ireland. 

3. Mosses (Diplolepideae). Colchester: Harley Books, 102. 

Goldberg IL. 2002a. The saxicolous moss flora of the Middle Urals. 

Arctoa 11: 63–80. 

Goldberg IL. 2002b. Contribution to the saxicolous moss flora of the 

Northern Urals. Arctoa 11: 81–86. 

Grims F. 1999. Die Laubmoose Österreichs. Catalogus Flora Austriae, 

II. Teil, Bryophyten (Moose), Heft. 1, Musci (Laubmoose). Wien: 

Austrian Academy of Sciences, Biosystematics and Ecology Series 

no. 15. 

Holyoak DT. 2004. Taxonomic notes on some European species of 

Bryum (Bryopsida: Bryaceae). Journal of Bryology 26: 247–264. 

Ignatov MS, Ivanova EI, Ignatova EA, Krivoshapkin KK. 2001. On the 

moss flora of Ust-Maya District (Republic Sakha/Yakutia, East 

Siberia). Arctoa 10: 165–184. 

Podpěra J. 1906. Vy´sledky bryologického vy´zkumu Moravy za rok 

1904–05. Věstník klubu prˇírodovědeckeho v Prostějově 8: 20–50. 

Ros RM, Cano MJ, Muñoz J, Guerra J. 2000. Contribution to the 

bryophyte flora of Morocco: the Jbel Toubkal. Journal of Bryology 

22: 283–289. 

Smith AJE. 1982. Epiphytes and epiliths. In: Smith AJE., ed. Bryophyte 

ecology. London: Chapman & Hall, 191–227. 

Syed H. 1973. A taxonomic study of Bryum capillare Hedw. and related 

species. Journal of Bryology 7: 265–326. 

Townsend CC. 1999. Some interesting mosses from Andorra. Bulletin of 

the British Bryological Society 73: 26–32. 

Weibull H. 2001. Influence of tree species on the epilithic bryophyte 

flora in deciduous forests of Sweden. Journal of Bryology 23: 

55–66. 

JAN KUČERA, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of South Bohemia, Branisˇovská 31, CZ–370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic. 

E-mail: kucera@bf.jcu.cz 

DAVID T. HOLYOAK, 8 Edward Street, Tuckingmill, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 8PA, U.K. E-mail: david@holyoak9187.fsnet.co.uk 

Journal of Bryology (2005) 27: 161–162 Received 16 December 2004. Revision accepted 6 January 2005 

# British Bryological Society 2005 DOI: 10.1179/037366805X53086

Bryological Notes Lectotypification of Bryum moravicum Podp ...

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