Amblystegium serpens |
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amblystegium moss, creeping feather-moss |
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Habit | Plants in slender, soft mats. |
Stem(s) | and branch leaves similar, soft, not complanate, slightly concave; costa 10–30 µm wide at base; alar region reaching from margin 65% distance to costa at insertion; medial laminal cells 12–55 × 7–12 µm, 3–5:1, walls firm, slightly incrassate, eporose. |
Seta | reddish, elongate, 1–2.5 cm. |
Capsule | 1.5–2 mm, neck well developed; operculum conic. |
Spores | spheric, smooth to minutely papillose. |
Perichaetia | with inner leaves suddenly narrowed to apex, plicate, apex acuminate. |
Amblystegium serpens |
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Habitat | Tree trunks, rotten wood, rock, soil, (sometimes salty) swamps to xeric habitats |
Elevation | low to high elevations (0-3000 m) (low to high elevations (0-9800 ft)) |
Distribution |
AK; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Mexico; Central America; South America; n Africa; Pacific Islands (New Zealand); Greenland; Asia; Europe; Australia
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Discussion | Variable features in Amblystegium serpens include the serration of the leaf margin, which ranges from entire to serrulate or even serrate; length of the costa, from very short (less than 1/5 of leaf length) to subpercurrent; the subquadrate to transversely elongate alar cells; and leaf stance, which ranges from erect to spreading. These last two characters have sometimes been used to recognize a separate taxon, var. juratzkanum. However, the continuous range of variation of these characters precludes any infraspecific division within A. serpens, which is a fairly well-circumscribed species with comparatively low levels of plasticity with regard to species of Hygroamblystegium. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 28, p. 301. |
Parent taxa | Amblystegiaceae > Amblystegium |
Synonyms | Hypnum serpens, A. juratzkanum, A. serpens var. juratzkanum |
Name authority | (Hedwig) Schimper: in P. Bruch and W. P. Schimper, Bryol. Europ. 6: 53. (1853) |
Web links |
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