Flora of North America species comparison

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Taxiphyllum deplanatum

taxiphyllum moss
Habit Plants in thin to dense mats, light green to yellowish.
Stems

4 cm, 1–3 mm wide, complanate-foliate;

radiculose ventrally.
Leaves

appressed-imbricate, close, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, rarely oblong-lanceolate or oblong-ovate, symmetric to somewhat asymmetric, somewhat concave or flat, 0.9–2 × 0.4–0.8 mm;

margins plane or narrowly recurved just beyond base, serrulate throughout;

apex acuminate or often abruptly acute or filiform, not twisted;

costa double and very short or ecostate;

alar cells many, quadrate to short-rectangular, 12–27 × 9–17 µm, in 1–several rows, 3–8 cells in marginal row;

laminal cells smooth;

medial cells 47–136 × 7–12 µm.
Seta

yellowish to red, 0.7–1 cm.
Capsule

yellowish to light brown, oblong or ovoid, straight or arcuate, 0.8–1.5 mm;

operculum 0.3–0.5 mm.
Spores

11–13 µm.

Taxiphyllum deplanatum
Phenology Capsules mature fall.
Habitat Shaded siliceous or calcareous soil and rock, base of trees, exposed tree roots, rotten logs, cedar swamps
Elevation low to high elevations (60-2700 m) (low to high elevations (200-8900 ft))
Distribution
from FNA
AR; AZ; CT; DC; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; PA; SD; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; MB; NB; ON; QC; SK; Mexico; Central America (Honduras)
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Discussion

Taxiphyllum deplanatum is widespread in northeastern North America with disjunct populations in New Brunswick, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Arizona, and New Mexico. Taxiphyllum deplanatum has often been confused with T. taxirameum, but the two are easily distinguished superficially and microscopically. The flaccid, appressed-imbricate leaves characteristic of T. deplanatum will easily separate it from T. taxirameum with its rigid, usually distant, wide-spreading to squarrose leaves. The alar regions of T. deplanatum are well differentiated with quadrate to short-rectangular cells, 3–8 in the marginal rows, which is in striking contrast to the poorly differentiated alar regions of T. taxirameum that have only a few rectangular cells on the margins. Taxiphyllum deplanatum has been reported for the Gulf Coast region, based on a Louisiana specimen (R. R. Ireland 1969b). However, it was re-examined and found to be a misidentified specimen of T. taxirameum as W. D. Reese (1984) noted. The capsules are extremely rare.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 28, p. 568.
Parent taxa Hypnaceae > Taxiphyllum
Sibling taxa
T. alternans, T. cuspidifolium, T. taxirameum
Synonyms Hypnum deplanatum, Isopterygium deplanatum, Plagiothecium deplanatum, Rhynchostegium deplanatum
Name authority (Bruch & Schimper ex Sullivant) M. Fleischer: Musc. Buitenzorg 4: 1435. (1923)
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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