Ptychostomum creberrimum |
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Habit | Plants in dense or open turfs, green or yellow-green. |
Stems | 1–2(–3) cm, comose, innovations comose or somewhat elongate and evenly foliate; often strongly radiculose. |
Leaves | green, twisted to contorted when dry, ovate-lanceolate, flat to weakly concave, (1–)2–3(–3.5) mm, somewhat enlarged toward stem apex; base weakly decurrent; margins revolute to mid leaf or beyond, limbidium strong, in 2 or 3 rows, yellowish; apex acuminate; costa long-excurrent, awn ± smooth; proximal laminal cells 3–4:1, same width or sometimes wider than more distal cells; medial and distal cells rhomboidal, 14–22 µm wide, 3–4:1, walls usually thin to firm, never oblique to costa. |
Seta | 1–2(–3) cm. |
Sexual condition | synoicous. |
Capsule | brown, elongate-pyriform, symmetric, 2–4 mm, mouth yellow; operculum conic, apiculate; peristome well developed; exostome teeth yellow basally, hyaline distally, lamellae usually straight mid tooth, pores absent along mid line; endostome not adherent to exostome, basal membrane high, 1/2 exostome height, segments with broadly ovate perforations, cilia long, appendiculate. |
Spores | 10–14(–16) µm, finely papillose, pale brown-yellow or green. |
Specialized | asexual reproduction absent. |
Ptychostomum creberrimum |
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Phenology | Capsules mature May–Sep. |
Habitat | Damp to dry soil, soil over rock |
Elevation | low to high elevations (0-3500 m) (low to high elevations (0-11500 ft)) |
Distribution |
AK; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Pacific Islands (New Zealand); Greenland; Eurasia; s South America; Australia |
Discussion | Ptychostomum creberrimum is one of the most widespread and common species in the genus, occurring throughout the Northern Hemisphere and disjunct in the Southern Hemisphere. The species can be distinguished from the closely related P. lonchocaulon by its strictly synoicous sexual condition and narrower yellowish leaf border. It is similar also to P. pallescens, which is autoicous and has larger spores and elongate-ovate segment perforations. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 28, p. 159. |
Parent taxa | Bryaceae > Ptychostomum > subg. Cladodium |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Bryum creberrimum, B. lisae var. cuspidatum |
Name authority | (Taylor) J. R. Spence & H. P. Ramsay: Phytologia 87: 23. (2005) |
Web links |