Campylopus introflexus
Campylopus oerstedianus
heath star moss
oersted's 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, lanceolate, gradually narrowed into a subtubulose, straight, concolorous subula;
alar cells slightly differentiated, reddish or hyaline;
basal laminal cells hyaline, rectangular;
distal laminal cells thick-walled, subquadrate to short-rectangular or oblique;
costa filling half of the leaf width, excurrent in a short, hyaline tip, which is longer in perichaetial leaves, in transverse section showing adaxial hyalocysts and abaxial stereids in groups of 2 cells, 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 not seen.
unknown.
Campylopus introflexus
Campylopus oerstedianus
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 oerstedianus has been found only once in the flora area, in the piedmont of North Carolina. The overall distribution is very scattered and suggests a circum-Tethyan range (margins of the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas). It has been described from Europe as C. mildei Schimper. Plants of C. oerstedianus resemble C. pilifer in habit, with shorter hairpoints. In shady habitats the hairpoints are sometimes absent. The plants are microscopically distinguished by the slightly different shape of the distal laminal cells and the transverse section of the costa, by the lack of abaxial lamellae on the costa, smaller adaxial hyalocysts of about the diameter of the median deuter cells, and groups of abaxial stereids with only 2 instead of 4 stereid cells.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
CalFlora
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
