Flora of North America species comparison

6–12(–20) cm, simple, densely matted with wooly whitish to light-brownish tomentum.

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

2–5(–6) mm, erect to closely appressed when dry, erect-spreading when moist;

sheath oblong-rectangular, brownish, ± abruptly contracted to the blade;

blade narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, flat, with sharply infolded margins;

marginal lamina 6–7 cells wide, 1-stratose, entire to finely crenulate above, membranous and transparent, abruptly infolded and enclosing the lamellae and overlapping towards the apex;

costa toothed abaxially towards the apex, short-excurrent as a short, reddish brown awn;

lamellae bluntly crenate in profile, 5–8 cells high, the marginal cells in section pyriform, thick-walled, ending in a thickened knob, end cells of lateral lamellae ovoid and scarcely thickened at the apex;

sheath cells 45–80 × 7–10 µm, elongate-rectangular (5–7:1), narrower toward the margin;

cells of the marginal lamina transversely elongate, shorter and obliquely oriented towards the margins, very thick-walled and colorless.

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.

2–4 cm, yellowish to reddish brown.

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

dioicous;

perichaetial leaves somewhat longer than the stem leaves, ending in a slender 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.

2–3 mm, short-rectangular to almost cubic (1–1.5:1), brownish, sharply 4-angled and prismatic, suberect, becoming horizontal when ripe;

peristome 200–230 µm, divided to 0.8, the teeth 64, obtuse.

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.

dirty white to light brown, enclosing the capsule.

golden yellow to brownish, completely enveloping the capsule.

7–9(–15) µm.

5–8(–12) µm.