Ptychomitrium gardneri
Ptychomitriaceae
Gardner's ptychomitrium moss
erect or repent, to 5 cm.
erect or repent, simple or forked;
central strand present;
rhizoids reddish brown, inconspicuous;
axillary hairs several per axil, with 2–3 short proximal cells and 5–7 long distal cells.
crispate-contorted when dry, narrowly acuminate, 4–6 mm;
margins coarsely serrate distally, recurved on one or both sides proximally;
apex plane or with erect margins but not cucullate.
erect to crispate or circinate when dry, ascending when wet, linear to oblong-lanceolate;
margins entire to coarsely serrate, thickened distally;
costa single, strong;
medial cells isodiametric, in longitudinal files, 1-stratose, or 2-stratose in patches, smooth or slightly papillose.
1–2(–3) per perichaetium, 4–10 mm.
single or several from a perichaetium, smooth, straight or flexuous.
autoicous.
cylindric, 2.5 mm, smooth to weakly striate-ribbed when dry;
peristome teeth divided into filiform segments, densely papillose.
erect, exserted, brown, ovoid to cylindric, smooth or wrinkled when dry;
stomata scarce, proximal on capsule, phaneropore;
annulus revoluble;
operculum slenderly rostrate;
peristome single, teeth 16, short and broad to long and slender, smooth or densely papillose, mostly irregularly divided into 2–3 slender segments beyond the base.
lobes 1/2 or more length of calyptra.
mostly mitrate, lobed proximally, often deeply so, naked, smooth or plicate.
spheric.
asexual reproduction absent.
asexual reproduction rare, by axillary 1-seriate or branched gemmae.
gemmiform, axillary on short naked stalks.
terminal but quickly overtopped by innovations;
leaves few, short.
Ptychomitrium gardneri
Ptychomitriaceae
Ptychomitrium gardneri are robust glossy plants easy to recognize by their green to dark green color, serrate, acuminate leaves, and narrow lobes of the deeply divided calyptra. The lobes of dry mature calyptrae often spread outward like the spokes of a wheel. The leaves are much longer and more narrowly acuminate than those of the somewhat similar P. serratum; the ranges of the latter and of P. gardneri do not overlap.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Genera 3, species ca. 80 (2 genera, 6 species in the flora).
The acrocarpous habit, thickened and often serrate leaf margins, smooth or nearly so leaf cells, single peristome, and mitrate, basally lobed, and sometimes plicate calyptra make Ptychomitriaceae recognizable. The family has been included in Grimmiaceae by some authors, e.g., S. P. Churchill (1981), E. Lawton (1971), and A. Noguchi and Z. Iwatsuki (1987+, part 2), but it is recognized as a distinct haplolepideous family by, e.g., H. A. Crum and L. E. Anderson (1981) and D. H. Vitt (1982).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Plants delicate, very small; leaves linear above base, entire, commonly circinate when dry; seta flexuous; calyptra smooth. | Campylostelium |
1. Plants coarse, small to robust; leaves acuminate above base, entire to serrulate or serrate, sometimes crispate but not circinate; seta straight; calyptra plicate. | Ptychomitrium |
BC
CalFlora
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
