Flora of North America species comparison

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Ptychomitrium gardneri

Ptychomitrium

Gardner's ptychomitrium moss

ptychomitrium moss
Habit Plants robust, tufted, glossy, green to dark green. Plants small to robust, tufted or caspitose, dark green to blackish.
Stems

erect or repent, to 5 cm.

erect or repent.
Leaves

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 when dry, margins entire to serrulate or serrate;

medial cells smooth or slightly papillose.
Seta

1–2(–3) per perichaetium, 4–10 mm.

straight.
Capsule

cylindric, 2.5 mm, smooth to weakly striate-ribbed when dry;

peristome teeth divided into filiform segments, densely papillose.

ovoid to cylindric, symmetric or slightly curved, smooth to wrinkled or ribbed when dry.
Calyptra

lobes 1/2 or more length of calyptra.

mitrate, more or less plicate, lobed proximally.
Spores

smooth to papillose.
Specialized

asexual reproduction absent.

asexual reproduction rare, by 1-seriate gemmae on branched axillary filaments.

Ptychomitrium gardneri

Ptychomitrium
Phenology Capsules mature Mar–Sep.
Habitat Limestone, basalt, and other rocks, and concrete, rarely soil, logs, and charred wood, open sites, especially along rivers
Elevation low to moderate elevations (0-1400 m) (low to moderate elevations (0-4600 ft))
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; OR; WA; BC; Asia
[WildflowerSearch map]
Nearly worldwide; mostly in temperate regions
Discussion

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.)

Species 40–50 (5 in the flora).

Excluded Species:

Glyphomitrium canadense Mitten

This taxon was included for western Canada by G. N. Jones (1933), but was excluded from North America by H. A. Crum (1972) and L. E. Anderson et al. (1990). Crum considered Glyphomitrium canadense to be a synonym of the British G. daviesii (Withering) Bridel and suggested that the specimen on which Mitten based the name came from Great Britain.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Leaves coarsely serrate distally
→ 2
1. Leaves entire or obscurely irregularly serrulate distally
→ 3
2. Leaves slenderly long-acuminate, 4-6 mm; basal leaf margins broadly recurved on one or both sides; calyptra deeply lobed proximally, lobes half length of calyptra.
P. gardneri
2. Leaves broadly acuminate, 3-4 mm; basal leaf margins plane and erect or irregularly narrowly recurved on one side proximally; calyptra shallowly lobed proximally, lobes less than 1/2 length of calyptra.
P. serratum
3. Plants dull, mostly corticolous; leaves straight or slightly contorted but not crispate when dry, margins mostly obscurely serrulate distally.
P. drummondii
3. Plants glossy, mostly on rock; leaves crispate when dry, margins entire
→ 4
4. Longest leaves mostly 2.5-4 mm.
P. sinense
4. Longest leaves mostly 2 mm.
P. incurvum
Source FNA vol. 27, p. 308. FNA vol. 27, p. 307.
Parent taxa Ptychomitriaceae > Ptychomitrium Ptychomitriaceae
Sibling taxa
P. drummondii, P. incurvum, P. serratum, P. sinense
Subordinate taxa
P. drummondii, P. gardneri, P. incurvum, P. serratum, P. sinense
Name authority Lesquereux: Mem. Calif. Acad. Sci. 1: 16. (1868) Fürnrohr: Flora 12(Ergänzungsbl.): 19. (1829)
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).



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