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

Campylopus introflexus

heath star moss
Habit Plants 0.5–5 cm, in dense mats, yellowish to olive green, tomentum present or almost absent.
Leaves

4–6 mm, erect-patent when wet, appressed when dry, lanceolate, straight, with entire margins;

alar cells absent or formed by thin-walled, hyaline to reddish, inflated cells;

basal laminal cells hyaline, rectangular, thin-walled, extending higher at margins and forming a V-shaped area;

distal laminal cells incrassate, shortly rectangular to oblique, chlorophyllose;

costa filling 1/2–3/4 of leaf width, excurrent in a hyaline hair tip, which is conspicuously 90° reflexed, in transverse section showing adaxial hyalocysts and abaxial stereids, shortly lamellose at back with ribs 1–2 cells high.
Seta

7–12 mm, yellowish brown to brownish in age, often several sporophytes from the same plant, curved or sinuose.
Capsule

brown, 1.5 mm, slightly asymmetric and curved when empty.
Calyptra

ciliate at base.
Spores

12–14 µm.
Specialized

asexual reproduction occasionally by deciduous stem tips.

Campylopus introflexus
Habitat Soil along trails, base of trees, flat roofs of buildings, peat in bogs, sand
Elevation 0-200 m (0-700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC; South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile); Europe; s Africa; Pacific Islands (New Caledonia, subantarctic Islands, New Zealand); Australia
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Campylopus introflexus occurs in masses in sand dunes along the west coast of North America and throughout the Southern Hemisphere. The species was introduced in Great Britain in 1942, and since the beginning of the 1970s has been aggressively spreading through Europe. It now ranges from Iceland to Spain and from Ireland to Poland. The first record in North America dates from August, 1975, and was made on a gravel roof of a building of Humboldt University, Arcata, California. The species is undoubtedly introduced in North America and is spreading here as rapidly as in Europe. The name C. introflexus was used previously for C. pilifer, thus all old references for C. introflexus in North America have to be referred to that species. Also, specimens of C. surinamensis and C. oerstedianus from North America were named as C. introflexus. Campylopus introflexus is easily recognized by the reflexed hair points. Female plants have terminal perichaetial buds. Problems may rarely arise with forms from shaded habitats, in which the hairpoints are absent or so short that they are not reflexed.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 27, p. 371.
Parent taxa Dicranaceae > Campylopus
Sibling taxa
C. angustiretis, C. arctocarpus, C. atrovirens, C. carolinae, C. flexuosus, C. fragilis, C. gracilis, C. oerstedianus, C. pilifer, C. pyriformis, C. schimperi, C. schmidii, C. sinensis, C. subulatus, C. surinamensis, C. tallulensis
Synonyms Dicranum introflexum
Name authority (Hedwig) Bridel: Muscol. Recent., suppl. 4: 72. (1818)
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