Plagiomnium ciliare |
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plagiomnium moss, saber tooth moss |
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Leaves | green or yellow-green, crisped and contorted when dry, flat when moist, ovate, elliptic, oblong-elliptic, or rarely obovate, (3–)4–6(–10) mm; base narrowly long-decurrent; margins toothed to near base, smaller leaves sometimes nearly entire, teeth blunt or less commonly sharp, of (1–)2–3(–4) cells; apex rounded, occasionally truncate or obtuse, rarely retuse, cuspidate or apiculate, cusp occasionally toothed; costa percurrent, excurrent, or rarely subpercurrent; medial laminal cells elongate, rarely ± isodiametric (especially near margins), 45–85 µm, less than 1/2 size near margins, in ± longitudinal, occasionally diagonal rows, collenchymatous, sometimes weakly, walls pitted, pits sometimes indistinct or absent; marginal cells linear, sometimes short-linear or rhomboidal, in (2–)3–4 rows. |
Seta | 1–3, yellowish or brownish green, 2–4 cm. |
Sexual condition | dioicous. |
Capsule | pendent, cylindric, 3–4.5 mm, neck not distinct; operculum conic-apiculate. |
Spores | 18–24 µm. |
Erect | stems 2–5(–9) cm, not dendroid; sterile stems to 10 cm. |
Plagiomnium ciliare |
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Phenology | Capsules mature late spring. |
Habitat | Humus, soil, logs, rock, tree bases in swamps and mesic hardwood forests, wet and fire-dependent forests/woodlands, cliffs/talus |
Elevation | low elevations |
Distribution |
AK; AL; AR; AZ; CT; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; LA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; NE; NH; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; SD; TN; TX; VA; WA; WV; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK
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Discussion | Populations of Plagiomnium ciliare having leaves with poorly developed marginal teeth appear to be fairly common and are often difficult to identify. When well developed, the teeth are straight-sided, fingerlike, and sometimes perpendicular to the margins. The usually long-decurrent leaf bases separate this species from P. ellipticum and P. rostratum. The rounded marginal teeth and, in many instances, the rounded leaf apices separate it from P. medium, the species most commonly confused with it in herbaria. Plagiomnium ciliare and P. ellipticum were considered by H. A. Crum and L. E. Anderson (1981) to be varieties of Mnium affine Blandow ex Funck [Plagiomnium affine (Blandow ex Funck) T. J. Koponen]. However, P. affine is a Eurasian species that is absent from North America. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 28, p. 231. |
Parent taxa | Mniaceae > Plagiomnium |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Mnium affine var. ciliare |
Name authority | (Müller Hal.) T. J. Koponen: Ann. Bot. Fenn. 5: 146. (1968) |
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