Campylopus introflexus
Campylopus fragilis
heath star moss
brittle fish-hook moss, fragile campylopus moss
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.
4–5 mm, ovate-lanceolate, widest below the middle and contracted at base, narrowed into a more or less long straight, concolorous subula;
alar cells hardly developed;
basal laminal cells thin-walled and hyaline, very distinctly differentiated from the distal thick-walled and quadrate laminal cells;
costa filling 1/2–2/3 of leaf width, shortly excurrent, slightly serrate at tip, in transverse section showing very wide adaxial hyalocysts (easily recognizable in surface view of the costa), filling half of the width of the costa, and abaxial substereids, slightly abaxially ridged.
7–12 mm, yellowish brown to brownish in age, often several sporophytes from the same plant, curved or sinuose.
brown, 1.5 mm, slightly asymmetric and curved when empty.
ciliate at base.
12–14 µm.
asexual reproduction occasionally by deciduous stem tips.
asexual reproduction by small, boomerang-shaped leaves produced in the axils of the distal leaves.
not known in North America.
Campylopus introflexus
Campylopus fragilis
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.)
Campylopus fragilis has only been found in a few localities in British Columbia and a single locality in Arkansas. It has been reported from southeastern North America based on the presence of boomerang-shaped brood leaves at the stem tips, however, these records belong to C. surinamensis with similar brood leaves. Campylopus surinamensis differs by rectangular and nonquadrate distal laminal cells, a sharply toothed, denticulate, excurrent costa and small adaxial hyalocysts. Brood leaves are produced especially “under stress” in unfavorable conditions, especially on small, depauperate plants.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
