Dicranum majus |
Dicranaceae |
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dicranum moss |
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Habit | Plants in loose tufts, green to light green, glossy to somewhat dull. | Plants small to large, often in dense tufts. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | 3–16 cm, naked or with a few whitish rhizoids, rarely moderately tomentose, rhizoids (micronemata) in rows above each leaf. |
erect, simple or dichotomously to irregularly branched, usually with central strand, often densely radiculose, tips occasionally deciduous. |
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Leaves | somewhat sparse, falcate-secund or erect-patent, flexuose or straight, little changed when dry, usually smooth, (6–)8–11.5(–15) × 1–2 mm, concave proximally, tubulose above, from a lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate base, gradually narrowed to a long, falcate-secund or straight, acute apex; margins serrate in the distal half, sometimes slightly serrulate above to almost entire; laminae 1-stratose or with few 2-stratose regions on or near the margins; costa percurrent to shortly excurrent, 1/12–1/7 the width of the leaves at base, toothed distally or serrulate to nearly smooth on abaxial surface, with a double row of guide cells that is sometimes interrupted, two stereid bands extending to apex, adaxial epidermal layer of cells with some cells differentiated, the abaxial layer completely differentiated; cell walls between lamina cells not bulging; leaf cells smooth or abaxially prorate or toothed above; alar cells 2-stratose or multistratose, well-differentiated, not extending to costa; proximal laminal cells elongate, pitted, (42–)71–112(–140) × (5–)9–10(–15) µm; distal laminal cells shorter, linear to oval, pitted, (42–)47–61(–99) × (7–)10–11(–17) µm. Sexual condition pseudomonoicous; dwarf males among rhizoids of female plants; interior perichaetial leaves abruptly long-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 | 2.5–5 cm, aggregate, 2–5 per perichaetium, rarely solitary, yellow to light brown. |
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 | 2–3.5 mm, arcuate, inclined to horizontal, smooth to faintly striate when dry, dark brown or yellowish brown; operculum 2–3 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 | 14–19 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 majus |
Dicranaceae |
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Distribution | nw North America; ne North America; Europe; Asia |
Worldwide |
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Discussion | Varieties ca. 12 (2 in the flora). Dicranum majus is the only North American species of the genus with a double row of guide cells. It is a distinctive species with oceanic tendencies and in North America it commonly grows in northern coastal localities on both sides of the continent, occasionally occurring inland in very moist habitats. (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. 405. | FNA vol. 27, p. 358. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Dicranaceae > Dicranum | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Name authority | Turner: Muscol. Hibern. Spic., 59. (1804) | Schimper | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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