Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Pseudoleskea incurvata

pseudoleskea moss
Habit Plants medium-sized to large, in thick mats, green, yellow-green, orange-green, or rarely black-green.
Stems

with branches robust, julaceous, apices curving up;

central strand present;

paraphyllia many, filamentous to foliose, branched.
Leaves

appressed to somewhat erect when dry, erect-spreading when moist, glossy or dull, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, asymmetric, usually falcate to falcate-secund, 0.8–2(–2.5) mm;

margins strongly and narrowly recurved to near acumen;

apex abruptly acute to short- or rarely long-acuminate, hair-point absent;

costa subpercurrent to percurrent, orange-green, sometimes sinuate;

alar cells transversely elongate to quadrate, region large;

medial laminal cells heterogeneous, elliptic or isodiametric, to 25 µm, 1–2(–3):1, opaque or sometimes pellucid, prorate to near base, lumina smaller than 8 µm, walls firm to strongly incrassate, not pitted;

apical cells 1–2:1;

juxtacostal cells somewhat shorter than more distal cells, walls not pitted.
Capsule

erect to suberect, symmetric, 1–2.5 mm;

endostome basal membrane 1/4–1/3 exostome length, segments shorter than exostome, cilia 1 or 2.
Spores

10–20 µm.

Pseudoleskea incurvata
Distribution
North America; Eurasia; North Temperate Zone; moderate to high elevations
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Varieties 11 (3 in the flora).

Pseudoleskea incurvata is a complex and highly variable species; the capsules mature in summer. Most plants can be distinguished from P. radicosa by the thick-walled proximal and medial laminal cells that are mostly short, and by the relatively short cells in the acumen. Although there are intermediate specimens, the three varieties are often quite distinct. Combined ecological, molecular and morphological studies of the varieties are needed to determine their distinctiveness.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Plants large; leaves 1.5-2.5 mm, distinctly falcate-secund; apices long-acuminate; laminal cell prorulae indistinct.
var. gigantea
1. Plants small to medium-sized; leaves smaller than1.5 mm, straight, falcate, or falcate-secund; apices usually short-acuminate to acute; laminal cell prorulae distinct
→ 2
2. Leaves 1-1.5 mm; apices acute to short-acuminate to acuminate; medial laminal cells elliptic, corners rounded.
var. incurvata
2. Leaves 0.8-1.1 mm; apices abruptly acute to short-acuminate; medial laminal cells isodiametric, corners angular.
var. tenuiretis
Source FNA vol. 28, p. 357.
Parent taxa Leskeaceae > Pseudoleskea
Sibling taxa
P. atricha, P. baileyi, P. patens, P. radicosa, P. saviana, P. stenophylla, P. tribulosa
Subordinate taxa
P. incurvata var. gigantea, P. incurvata var. incurvata, P. incurvata var. tenuiretis
Synonyms Leskea incurvata, Lescuraea incurvata
Name authority (Hedwig) Loeske: Hedwigia 50: 313. (1911)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers