Hedwigia ciliata
Hedwigia stellata
ciliate hedwigia moss, fringe hoar-moss
starry hoar-moss
1.5–3 mm;
margins broadly recurved to 1/3 leaf length, narrowly recurved to apex on one or both sides, or plane mid leaf and plane, erect, and/or incurved in acumen on same plant, teeth in apex broad, irregularly papillose to smooth;
apex erect, erect-spreading, or often secund when dry, broad and hyaline, muticous, or acuminate with acumen narrow-based, 1/10–1/5 leaf length, broadly or narrowly, shallowly or deeply channeled, extreme apex flat;
medial and distal laminal cells with papillae (1–)2(–4), small, simple, sessile, or low-stalked, variously branched;
laminal cells in hyaline area with papillae low, simple, in linear rows throughout or sparsely to coarsely and irregularly papillose proximally and smooth to minutely rounded-papillose distally;
apical cell short-rhomboidal, obtuse to truncate, (40–)50–75(–80) µm, multipapillose-coronate.
1.5–2.5 mm;
margins recurved to mid leaf, plane mid leaf, erect to incurved in acumen, teeth in apex sharply, narrowly spinose, smooth;
apex wide-spreading to squarrose when dry, broad, hyaline, acumen broad-based, 1/5–1/3(–1/2) leaf length, shallowly to deeply channeled, extreme apex flat or sometimes twisted;
medial and distal laminal cells with papillae 1 (or 2), large, stalked, strongly, irregularly branched, branches of unequal lengths, especially on abaxial surface;
laminal cells in hyaline area with papillae large, spinose, intermixed with smaller papillae;
apical cell long-linear, sharply pointed, 120–175(–200) µm, smooth, 1-papillose on one margin, or 2-papillose and appearing 2-fid at tip.
naked, sparsely pilose proximally, or densely pilose throughout.
naked to sparsely pilose.
with leaves plane, margins long-ciliate distally.
with leaves plane to weakly concave, margins long-ciliate distally, especially at apex.
sparsely to densely pilose.
sparsely pilose.
Hedwigia ciliata
Hedwigia stellata
In plants of Hedwigia ciliata with dense paraphyses extending onto the calyptra, the paraphyses are sparsely papillose and have sharp lateral teeth on one side at the distal ends of some cells. In the eastern to northeastern part of the flora area, the typical facies have vaginula and calyptra that are densely pilose. The hyaline apices are absent to short or to 1/3 the leaf length.
Although the type of Hedwigia ciliata var. leucophaea has apparently been lost, L. Hedenäs (1994) gave formal synonymy for var. leucophaea. W. R. Buck and D. H. Norris (1996) proposed the name H. nivalis for a facies of what was formerly called H. ciliata in the southwestern United States, and for all tropical American material. B. H. Allen (2010) accepted this suggestion. M. Lueth and A. Schaefer-Verwimp (2004) reported var. leucophaea as new to South America and that the two specimens of the variety were collected from the type locality of H. nivalis. The leaves in var. leucophaea are more oblong (less ovate) than in H. nivalis, the acumina are narrower, and the calyptra is pilose. These characters in the flora area are present and variable throughout the range of H. ciliata, especially in areas west of mid-continent.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
The marginal teeth in the hyaline leaf apices of Hedwigia stellata display the same characters as the apical cell: generally sharply pointed and narrow, with an occasional papilla; in H. ciliata the teeth are broader and often irregularly covered with scattered papillae, especially on their tips. Hedwigia stellata is common in California only in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas (W. R. Buck and D. H. Norris 1996). The chlorophyllose, generally yellow-brown boundary between the body of the leaf and the hyaline apex is often irregular with short longitudinal lines of pigmented and non-pigmented cells juxtaposed, resulting in a jagged transverse line. In many leaves, the ultimate laminal cells are somewhat darker in coloration just at this boundary. This is true also in specimens of H. detonsa.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
BC - Local Web sites:
CalFlora, CalPhotos, 
Flora NW, 
IL Wildflowers, 
KS Wildflowers, 
LA Plants, 
MD Biodiversity, 
MI Flora, 
MN Wildflowers, 
MO Plants, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
