Tetraplodon mnioides
Tetraplodon angustatus
entireleaf nitrogen moss, slender cruet-moss
narrow cruet-moss, toothedleaf nitrogen moss
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.
long-lanceolate, concave, 3–4 × 0.5 mm;
margins with large teeth or occasionally entire;
apex slenderly long-acuminate;
costa nearly filling subula;
distal laminal cells rectangular or oblong-hexagonal, 20 × 30 µm.
stramineous, usually dark red with age, 1–5 cm.
brownish, 0.2–0.4 cm.
autoicous.
autoicous or dioicous.
not cleistocarpous, red, dark or black with age, long-ovate;
hypophysis somewhat wider than urn distally;
stomata over whole of hypophysis;
operculum bluntly conic.
stegocarpous, brown, dark brown with age, ovate-cylindric;
hypophysis wider than urn;
stomata in distal hypophysis;
operculum hemispheric or bluntly conic.
conic-mitrate.
conic-mitrate.
9–12 µm, smooth or slightly papillose.
9–10 µm, smooth.
Tetraplodon mnioides
Tetraplodon angustatus
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.)
Tetraplodon angustatus, like T. mnioides, is mainly boreal in distribution and occurs on similar substrates; it is easily distinguished from T. mnioides by lanceolate-acuminate, irregularly serrate leaves that narrow to a slender, elongate acumen, shorter seta, and green (brown with age) hypophysis. In Alberta, sporophytes mature in spring prior to the maturation of T. mnioides sporophytes, resulting in the temporal separation of spores of these two species on fresh droppings and thus the physical separation of T. angustatus and T. mnioides on droppings where these two species occur together regionally.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
Flora NW
MI Flora
MN Wildflowers
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
