Flora of North America species comparison

(0.5–)1–4 cm tall, rather wiry, unbranched, comose at the tips, whitish tomentose only near the base.

loosely to densely leafy distally, bracteate proximally, rhizoidous at base or rarely wooly-tomentose throughout.

(2–)3–4 mm, erect, straight and slightly incurved when dry, erect-spreading when moist;

sheath ovate, ± contracted to the blade;

blade linear-lanceolate, turgid, with sharply infolded margins, the leaf apex abruptly contracted to the base of the awn;

marginal lamina 5–8 cells wide, 1-stratose, membranous, entire to finely serrulate toward the apex, enclosing the lamellae and overlapping in distal half or more;

costa typically smooth abaxially, long-excurrent as a spinulose-toothed, hyaline awn;

lamellae in profile crenulate-dentate to serrulate, with crenulations directed towards the leaf apex, (4–)6–8 cells high, the marginal cells in section conic to distinctly pyriform, terminating in a distinct knob, the marginal cells of the lateral lamellae ovoid, thinner-walled;

sheath cells 60–80 × 10–15 µm, elongate-rectangular (4–6:1);

cells of marginal lamina transversely elongated, ± irregular and sinuous, smaller toward the margins and obliquely oriented, especially approaching the apex, thick-walled.

with differentiated sheath and blade;

sheath entire, hyaline-margined, often highly nitid (glossy), with a well-developed hinge-tissue at the junction of sheath and blade;

marginal lamina narrow, plane or erect, sharply toothed with stout, unicellular teeth, or entire, broadened and ± sharply inflexed, enclosing the lamellae;

costa short-excurrent or prolonged as a long, spinulose awn;

lamellae numerous, closely-spaced, the marginal cells in section distinctly differentiated, pyriform, flat-topped, or retuse, smooth.

1–3 cm, stout, flexuose, reddish brown.

solitary.

dioicous;

perigonia intense wine-red;

perichaetial leaves a little longer than foliage leaves, with hyaline lamina and longer awns.

dioicous;

male plants with conspicuous rosettes formed by the broadly overlapping, apiculate perigonial bracts, commonly innovating and producing several successive male inflorescences per shoot;

perichaetial leaves typically long-sheathing, the sheath broadly hyaline-margined, with a weakly-developed and greatly abbreviated blade.

2.5–3.5 mm, short to almost cubic (1.5–2:1), inclined, becoming horizontal when mature;

peristome rather short, 110–180(–200) µm, divided to 0.6, the teeth about 64, obtuse.

4(–5)-angled, often somewhat broader toward the base, alate and prismatic with knife-edge angles after the operculum is shed, reddish to purplish brown, glaucous in fresh capsules, suberect when young but becoming sharply bent at the attachment to the seta and almost horizontal;

hypophysis discoid, sharply delimited from the urn by a deep basal constriction;

stomata rather few and confined to the constriction;

exothecial cells bulging-mammillose, often transversely elongate, with a sharply defined, circular or slit-like pit in the outer wall;

operculum umbonate, with a short beak;

peristome teeth 64, pale, single, with a thin vertical keel and delicate spur-like projections in the inner face;

epiphragm thin and delicate, remaining attached to the peristome teeth, the margin thicker and dissected into pendent lobes alternating with the peristome teeth.

dirty white to light brown, enclosing the capsule.

with a densely interwoven, matted felt of hairs, enveloping the whole capsule and entwined beneath.

9–12 µm.

small, smooth (minutely echinulate with SEM).