Dicranum condensatum |
Dicranaceae |
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condensed dicranum moss |
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Habit | Plants in ± dense tufts, light green to yellowish brown, dull. | Plants small to large, often in dense tufts. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | 1–9 cm, densely tomentose below with reddish brown rhizoids. |
erect, simple or dichotomously to irregularly branched, usually with central strand, often densely radiculose, tips occasionally deciduous. |
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Leaves | erect-spreading, flexuose, ± curled at the tips when dry, slightly undulate or rugose, (2–)3.5–4.5(–7) × 0.5–1 mm, concave below, strongly keeled above, oblong-lanceolate, with a broad lanceolate base gradually narrowing to a short-acuminate apex; margins serrulate in the distal half, involute in central part; laminae 1-stratose, with a few 2-stratose regions; costa percurrent to shortly excurrent, 1/10–1/5 the width of the leaves at base, strong, smooth or papillose to toothed above on abaxial surface, abaxial ridges absent, with a row of guide cells, two thick stereid bands extending well into the apex, adaxial epidermal layer of cells not differentiated, the abaxial layer differentiated; cell walls between lamina cells strongly bulging; leaf cells papillose above on abaxial surface, sometimes nearly smooth; alar cells 2-stratose, differentiated, not extending to costa; proximal laminal cells elongate, pitted, (25–)41–56(–112) × (5–)6–7(–10) µm, abruptly shorter towards the apex; distal laminal cells quadrate, irregularly angled, rounded or rectangular, not or indistinctly pitted, cell walls unequally thickened, (5–)7–8(–20) × (5–)7–8(–12) µm. Sexual condition pseudomonoicous; dwarf males on stem rhizoids of female plants; interior perichaetial leaves abruptly short-acuminate, convolute-sheathing. |
in several rows around the stem, erect or secund, often falcate-secund, sometimes crispate, short- to long-lanceolate, whole leaves or their tips sometimes deciduous; costa single, usually strong, percurrent to excurrent, sometimes ending in a short to long hyaline awn, smooth, ridged or lamellose on abaxial surface, rhizoids occasionally on adaxial or abaxial surface near leaf base; laminal cells smooth or sometimes distal cells mammillose or papillose on one or both sides, papillae rarely forked, or toothed by projecting cell ends, pitted or nonpitted; proximal cells elongate, often differentiated in alar region, sometimes undifferentiated. |
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Seta | 1–4 cm, solitary, rarely 2 per perichaetium, yellowish. |
solitary or several per perichaetium, elongate, usually straight, sometimes flexuose or cygneous. |
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Sexual condition | autoicous, dioicous or pseudomonoicous. |
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Capsule | 1.5–3 mm, arcuate, inclined to horizontal, furrowed when dry, slightly contracted below the mouth, yellowish brown; operculum 1.5–2.5 mm. |
exserted, erect, inclined, or sometimes curved, cylindrical or ovoid, smooth, ridged, furrowed or irregularly wrinkled, sometimes strumose; stomata present or absent, superficial; annulus present or absent, often compound, deciduous or persistent; operculum conic or obliquely rostrate from a conic base; peristome single, usually of 16 lanceolate teeth, deeply divided into 2 or rarely 3 divisions, usually vertically striolate or pitted-striolate proximally, papillose distally. |
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Calyptra | cucullate, smooth, naked, sometimes fringed at base, usually covering most of capsule, fugacious. |
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Spores | 19–26 µm. |
mostly spheric, smooth to papillose. |
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Specialized | asexual reproduction absent or occasionally present as brood leaves, microphyllous branches, borne in axils of distal leaves or as rhizoidal tubers. |
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Dicranum condensatum |
Dicranaceae |
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Phenology | Capsules mature spring. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Exposed sandy soil, often in pine woods, frequently over sandstone and limestone | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 0-700 m (0-2300 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV; NB; NS; QC
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Worldwide |
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Discussion | Dicranum condensatum is a common species recognized in the field by its occurrence on sandy soil, by its light green to yellowish brown, dull plants in compact, dense tufts, its erect-spreading, oblong-lanceolate leaves, narrowing to a short-acuminate apex, keeled above, somewhat undulate or rugose, curled at tips when dry, and its solitary setae with an arcuate, inclined to horizontal capsule. The papillose leaf cells with strongly bulging walls between the cells and the irregularly angled median and distal cells with nonpitted walls are distinctive microscopic characters. Dicranum spurium is the species most commonly confused with D. condensatum. Both species occur on sandy soil with their ranges overlapping. The former occurs farther northward, where it is found in Newfoundland, while the latter occurs farther to the south, where its range extends to the tip of Florida. Dicranum spurium has broader leaves, the broadest point near the middle rather than near the base like D. condensatum, and leaves that are tubulose above (most noticeable when wet) rather than keeled. Rarely, D. condensatum can be mistaken for 9. D. ontariense as discussed under that species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Genera 50–52, species ca. 900 (17 genera, 90 species in the flora). Distinctive characters of this large acrocarpous family include the erect, often tomentose stems; mostly narrow, lanceolate, occasionally falcate or falcate-secund leaves, with a single, narrow to broad costa, with or without rhizoids at the base, sometimes ending in a hyaline, occasionally toothed apex, costa in cross section with or without stereid bands, leaf cells usually smooth, sometimes mammillose, or rarely with a single papilla on one or both sides, papillae rarely forked, asexual propagation by specialized deciduous branches, deciduous leaves or leaf apices, rarely rhizoidal tubers; sporophytes usually solitary or rarely clustered, setae mostly elongate, straight or rarely flexuose or cygneous, capsule cylindric to ovoid, erect to horizontal, smooth or ribbed, sometimes strumose, operculum usually obliquely rostrate, peristome single, with 16 teeth often divided 1/2 way to the base, usually striolate or pitted-striolate proximally, papillose distally. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 409. | FNA vol. 27, p. 358. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Dicranaceae > Dicranum | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | D. sabuletorum | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Hedwig: Sp.. Musc. Frond., 139. 1801, not plate 34, | Schimper | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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