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entireleaf nitrogen moss, slender cruet-moss

Habit Plants 1–4(–8) cm, light green or yellow-green.
Leaves

oblong-ovate, concave, 1–2 × 3–5 mm;

margins entire;

apex abruptly subulate;

costa vanishing in subula;

distal laminal cells rectangular to oblong-hexagonal, 20 × 35 µm.

Seta

stramineous, usually dark red with age, 1–5 cm.

Sexual condition

autoicous.

Capsule

not cleistocarpous, red, dark or black with age, long-ovate;

hypophysis somewhat wider than urn distally;

stomata over whole of hypophysis;

operculum bluntly conic.

Calyptra

conic-mitrate.

Spores

9–12 µm, smooth or slightly papillose.

Tetraplodon mnioides

Phenology Capsules mature summer.
Habitat Dung of carnivores, old bones, owl pellets, dry alpine, boreal, arctic habitats
Elevation low to high elevations
Distribution
from FNA
AK; ME; MI; MN; NH; NJ; NY; OR; VT; WA; WV; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT; Greenland; n Europe; Asia
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Discussion

Tetraplodon mnioides is much more common than other species of the genus and is readily distinguished; the plants differ from those of T. angustatus by their larger tufts and longer sporophytes, which are dark red, becoming black with age. Sterile plants of T. mnioides differ from those of T. angustatus by their oblong-ovate, abruptly subulate leaves with entire margins, whereas those of T. angustatus are oblong-lanceolate, gradually subulate, and serrate. The distal laminal cell walls of T. mnioides are rather thin.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 28, p. 23.
Parent taxa Splachnaceae > Tetraplodon
Sibling taxa
T. angustatus, T. pallidus, T. paradoxus, T. urceolatus
Synonyms Splachnum mnioides
Name authority (Hedwig) Bruch & Schimper: Bryol. Europ. 3: 215. (1844)
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