Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Brotherella recurvans

Brotherella henonii

recurved brotherella moss, satin moss
Habit Plants medium-sized, in dense mats, pale green to yellow-green. Plants large, in loose mats, yellowish green to yellowish brown.
Stems

2–6 cm, 1.5–2 mm wide across main leafy shoot, markedly complanate-foliate, subpinnate to irregularly branched, strongly falcate-secund toward substrate at stem and branch apices;

pseudoparaphyllia narrowly to lanceolate-filamentous.

4–6(–12) cm, 1.5–2 mm wide across main leafy shoot, complanate-foliate, pinnate to irregularly branched, penicillate at shoot and branch apices;

pseudoparaphyllia filamentous or lanceolate.
Leaves

falcate-secund, ovate, tapering to apex, 1–1.5 mm;

margins toothed in acumen;

alar cells 3 or 4, yellowish.

erect, ovate-lanceolate, tapering abruptly to apex, 1.7–1.8 mm;

margins long-toothed or occasionally entire in acumen;

alar cells 3 or 4, yellowish.
Seta

light brown, 1–1.5 cm.

Sexual condition

dioicous.

sterile.
Capsule

inclined, oblong-cylindric, somewhat asymmetric;

operculum short-rostrate.

Sporophytes

unknown.

Brotherella recurvans

Brotherella henonii
Phenology Capsules mature late fall. Capsule maturity unknown.
Habitat Logs, humus, tree trunks, rock, forests Humid shaded sites near streams or cliff bases in forests
Elevation low to high elevations low elevations
Distribution
from FNA
AL; CT; GA; IA; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; SC; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
BC; Asia (China, Japan, Korea)
Discussion

Brotherella recurvans resembles Pseudotaxiphyllum elegans (Hypnaceae) superficially, but is generally larger and has inflated alar cells and a toothed apiculus. Branches and main shoots of B. recurvans bear leaves of similar size and areolation, and branching tends to be irregular. The laminal cells are usually linear to sinuate-linear.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Brotherella henonii suggests an overgrown version of B. canadensis, but is paler green, forms looser mats, and grows in more humid shaded sites. The penicillate rather than falcate-secund shoot and branch tips also easily distinguish B. henonii. The British Columbia populations from Queen Charlotte Islands are few, lack sporophytes, and are slightly different from much of Asiatic B. henonii, but this species is sufficiently variable to include the North American material.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 28, p. 578. FNA vol. 28, p. 578.
Parent taxa Sematophyllaceae > Brotherella Sematophyllaceae > Brotherella
Sibling taxa
B. canadensis, B. henonii, B. roellii
B. canadensis, B. recurvans, B. roellii
Synonyms Leskea recurvans, B. delicatula, Rhynchostegium delicatulum Hypnum henonii
Name authority (Michaux) M. Fleischer: Nova Guinea 12: 120. (1914) (Duby) M. Fleischer: Nova Guinea 12: 120. (1914)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers