Flora of North America species comparison

(1–)4–6(–14) cm, densely leafy above, often leafless and thread-like below, simple or sparingly to fasciculately branched.

2–5(–10) cm.

(4–)5–8(–19) mm, loosely to densely imbricate, erect-spreading and subtubulose when dry, erect-spreading to widely spreading when moist;

sheath ± nitid, elliptic to obovate, with tapering shoulders (in var. fragile contracted above the sheath and the blade caducous), broadly hyaline-margined;

blade linear-lanceolate, the apex narrowly acute to finely acuminate;

marginal lamina 2–5 cells wide, erect, coarsely serrate with multicellular teeth, distantly serrulate to subentire;

costa excurrent, ending in a short, brownish, toothed awn;

lamellae 5–8 cells high, entire in profile, the marginal cells with the free wall appearing greatly thickened, the marginal cells in section enlarged, yellowish to dark brown, ovate to narrowly ovate, the lateral walls strongly thickened, the lumen narrowly pentagonal and pointed at the apex, coarsely papillose;

median cells of sheath 40–60(–80) × 6–12 µm, elongate-rectangular, thin-walled;

cells of the marginal lamina 10–15 µm, subquadrate, sometimes transversely elongate;

perichaetial leaves scarcely longer than the stem leaves.

5–10 mm, somewhat contorted and flexuose when dry, spreading-recurved when moist;

sheath short, oblong, yellowish (in what has been known as Polytrichum gracile var. anomalum) weakly differentiated and tapering to the blade, hyaline margined, the hinge-tissue often not well developed;

blade narrowly lanceolate;

marginal lamina typically broad and often somewhat inflexed, 5–9(–12) cells wide (to 20 cells wide in var. anomalum), plane to erect, sharply toothed nearly to the sheath, the teeth composed of a single, elongate tooth cell, or at times less strongly toothed to denticulate;

costa excurrent, ending in a short awn;

lamellae in profile entire or finely serrulate, 3–7 cells high, the marginal cells in section ovate to elliptic, scarcely enlarged, usually taller than wide, sometimes slightly thicker-walled, smooth;

sheath cells short- rectangular, (30–)40–60 × 14–18 µm (ca. 3–4:1);

cells of the marginal lamina 15–18 µm (larger in var. anomalum), quadrate to transversely elongate;

perichaetial leaves similar to the vegetative leaves or slightly larger.

(1–)3–5 cm, brownish.

4–7 cm tall, typically exceeding the leafy shoots in length, yellowish, reddish brown below.

various, (1.5–)3–5(–8) mm, terete, narrowly cylindric to oblong-cylindric and curved, ovate-cylindric, or ovoid to almost spherical, suberect to inclined to almost horizontal;

hypophysis tapering, rugose, with numerous conspicuous stomata in a broad basal band;

exothecial cells irregularly rectangular, not bulging or mammillose, thin spots absent, rather thick-walled;

peristome 600 µm (teeth 150–250 µm), divided to 0.6–0.75, the teeth 45–50, with some teeth irregularly developed and unequal, pale to somewhat darker in the median line.

3–5 mm, slender to ovoid, (4–)5–6-angled, yellowish brown;

hypophysis cylindric, narrower than the urn;

exothecium smooth, the cells irregularly rectangular, not bulging, without thin spots;

peristome pale, 400–600 µm, divided to 0.8, the teeth ca. 50, somewhat irregular in size and shape, rather slender.

14–20 µm.

18–28 µm.