Pterygoneurum ovatum |
Pterygoneurum subsessile |
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ovate pterygoneurum moss |
sessile pterygoneurum moss, woolly caterpillar moss |
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Leaves | with distal lamina smooth or rarely papilose; awn smooth or rarely with a few teeth; lamellae 8–16 cells in height, not lobed, seldom bearing filaments. |
with distal lamina smooth; awn smooth or sharply serrulate; lamellae 10–12 cells in height, not lobed, sometimes bearing filaments. |
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Capsule | stegocarpous, emergent to exerted, ovoid, annulus present, operculum cells in straight rows; eperistomate. |
stegocarpous (or stegocarpous but bursting irregularly), immersed to emergent, short-ovoid, annulus present, operculum cells in straight rows; eperistomate. |
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Calyptra | cucullate or rarely mitrate. |
mitrate. |
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Pterygoneurum ovatum |
Pterygoneurum subsessile |
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Phenology | Spores mature spring. | |||||
Habitat | Soil (volcanic, dry saline), frost boil, low desert scrub areas | |||||
Elevation | moderate elevations (900-1600 m) (moderate elevations (3000-5200 ft)) | |||||
Distribution |
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; KS; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; TX; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT; s South America; Europe; Asia; n Africa; Australia
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North Temperate Zone; s South America |
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Discussion | Pterygoneurum ovatum is the most common species of the genus and serves to stabilize arid soils (S. Flowers 1973). The setae may reach 3 mm. Faint thickenings reminiscent of a rudimentary peristome can sometimes be found associated with spore sac remnants dug out of the operculum, and the laminal distal cells may by simply papillose abaxially as in P. lamellatum. R. T. Wareham (1939) found the characters of Pterygoneurum ovatum var. incanum Juratzka, the long awns and short setae, inconstant in both American and European material. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Pterygoneurum subsessile is an abundant moss in the arid West, often occurring with P. ovatum. In some specimens, the perigoniate plants appear separate, but this species and doubtless others are apparently occasionally rhizautoicous. Following the reasoning of R. T. Wareham (1939), var. henrici is placed with the typical variety. The characters associated with P. californicum (H. A. Crum 1967) are poor: the spores are finely papillose, the leaf cells do have weak collenchymatous thickenings, and the calyptra is long-mitrate. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 27, p. 608. | FNA vol. 27, p. 608. | ||||
Parent taxa | Pottiaceae > subfam. Pottioideae > Pterygoneurum | Pottiaceae > subfam. Pottioideae > Pterygoneurum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Gymnostomum ovatum | Gymnostomum subsessile | ||||
Name authority | (Hedwig) Dixon: Rev. Bryol. Lichénol. 6: 96. (1934) | (Bridel) Juratzka: Laubm.-Fl. Oesterr.-Ung., 96. (1882) | ||||
Web links |