Flora of North America species comparison

(1–)4–5(–10) cm, simple, brownish tomentose only near the base.

(2–)5–10(–70) cm, stiffly erect to decumbent, mostly simple or rarely forked, bracteate proximally, densely to rather distantly leafy.

3–6(–8) mm, densely imbricate, ± erect and almost straight when dry, erect-spreading to widely spreading when moist;

sheath oblong-rectangular, yellowish, tapering to the blade;

blade slender, bluish green and nitid, rather flat, with sharply infolded margins;

marginal lamina 5–7 cells wide, 1-stratose, entire or minutely crenulate, membranous and transparent, enclosing the lamellae and overlapping towards the apex;

costa usually somewhat toothed distally, excurrent, forming a subulate, toothed awn, the awn reddish brown throughout or slightly decolorate at tip;

lamellae bluntly crenate in profile, 6–8 cells high, the marginal cells in cross-section ovate to pyriform, thick-walled, ending in a distinct knob, smooth or rarely faintly papillose, the marginal cells of lateral lamellae (enclosed by the overlapping margins) ovoid and less strongly thickened;

sheath cells 70–100 × 6–10 µm, narrowly rectangular (4–6:1), narrower toward the margin;

cells of the broad marginal lamina transversely elongate, very thick-walled.

6–8(–12) mm, erect or erect-spreading when dry, flexuose, with distinctly recurved tips, spreading to broadly recurved when moist, or the blade sharply squarrose-reflexed from the base;

sheath oblong to elliptic, involute-tubular and clasping the stem, often golden yellow and highly nitid, abruptly contracted to the narrowly lanceolate blade;

marginal lamina plane or erect, narrow, 2–3(–7) cells wide, toothed from the base of blade to the apex, the teeth unicellular, embedded in the margin;

costa toothed abaxially near the apex, excurrent, ending in short, rough awn;

lamellae crenulate in profile, 5–9 cells high, the margin distinctly grooved as seen from above, with 2 rows of paired, projecting knobs, the marginal cells in section narrow or more typically enlarged and wider than those beneath, retuse to deeply notched (rarely divided by a vertical partition), ± thick-walled and brownish, smooth;

sheath cells 60–90 × 10–13 µm, elongate-rectangular to linear (as much as 20:1), narrower toward the margins;

cells of the marginal lamina 10–15 µm wide, subquadrate.

(1–)3–5 cm, stout, yellowish to reddish brown.

5–9 cm, stout, yellowish to reddish brown.

dioicous;

perigonial rosettes yellowish to reddish green;

perichaetial leaves longer than the foliage leaves, long-sheathing, the blade almost obsolete, ending in a slender yellowish or hyaline awn.

dioicous;

perichaetial leaves with a long, scarious-margined sheath and blade greatly reduced, gradually narrowed to a finely acuminate tip, the margins toothed, denticulate to subentire, the costa short- to long-excurrent, roughened to almost smooth.

2.5–5 mm, rectangular, longer than wide (1.5–2:1), reddish brown to dark brown, glaucous when fresh, suberect, becoming horizontal when mature, sharply 4-angled and prismatic;

peristome 200–240 µm, divided to 0.6–0.8, the teeth 64, keeled at back.

3–6 mm, short-rectangular to cubic, brown to dark reddish brown, glaucous when fresh, sharply 4-alate, inclined to horizontal;

peristome 250 µm, divided to 0.6, the teeth 64, pale.

whitish to light brown, covering the capsule.

golden yellow to brownish, completely enveloping the capsule.

6–10(–12) µm.

5–8(–12) µm.