Thuidium delicatulum |
Thuidium delicatulum var. radicans |
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common fern moss, delicate thuidium moss |
philibert's tamarisk-moss |
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Habit | Plants green or yellowish brown. | |||||
Stem(s) | leaves ± erect, appressed when dry, erect-spreading when moist, triangular-ovate, not plicate, 0.6–1.5 mm; margins revolute throughout, papillose-serrulate; apex acuminate; costa ending well before apex; distal laminal cells irregularly oblong-hexagonal or rhombic, 6–10 × 8–12 µm, papillae sometimes 2-fid, not appearing multipapillose. |
leaves (1–)1.2(–1.5) mm; apex ending in hyaline point of 2–8 1-seriate cells. |
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Branch leaves | apical cell truncate, multipapillose. |
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Seta | 1.5–4.5 cm. |
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Capsule | 1.8–4 mm; operculum 0.7–2 mm, long-rostrate; endostome cilia in groups of 2 or 3. |
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Spores | 12–24 µm, smooth. |
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Primary | branch leaves to 0.5 mm; costa 1/2–2/3 leaf length. |
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Secondary | branch leaves 0.3 mm; apex acute; costa to 1/2 leaf length. |
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Perichaetial | leaves to 5 mm, margins not ciliate to ciliate proximally, often denticulate distally. |
leaves with margins usually not ciliate, sometimes sparsely so, rarely copiously ciliate. |
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Thuidium delicatulum |
Thuidium delicatulum var. radicans |
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Phenology | Capsules mature fall–winter. | |||||
Habitat | Calciphile, soil, humus, rock, logs in swampy places | |||||
Elevation | low to high elevations | |||||
Distribution |
North America; Mexico; Central America; n South America; Europe; Asia
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AK; IA; ME; MI; MN; NJ; NM; NY; SC; SD; VA; WI; AB; BC; MB; NF; NS; ON; YT; Mexico; South America (Peru); Europe; Asia |
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Discussion | Varieties 10 (2 in the flora). Thuidium delicatulum, if confused with T. recognitum, can be recognized by the stem leaves erect or erect-spreading when moist, not plicate and rather gradually acuminate, with margins recurved to the base of the acumen and costa ending well before the apex. The paraphyllia have small papillae along the cell midpoints. The laminal cells are stoutly 1-papillose, but often, especially in the South, the papillae are 2-fid. The branch leaf laminal cells are rhombic, 6–8 × 8–12 µm, with curved papillae. The operculum is long-rostrate. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Variety radicans intergrades with var. delicatulum. The annulus of var. radicans is of 2 or 3 rows of cells scarcely differentiated from suboral cells, and this character is sometimes of aid in distinguishing it from var. delicatulum. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 28, p. 382. | FNA vol. 28, p. 383. | ||||
Parent taxa | Thuidiaceae > Thuidium | Thuidiaceae > Thuidium > Thuidium delicatulum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Hypnum delicatulum, T. recognitum var. delicatulum | T. recognitum var. radicans, T. philibertii, T. recognitum subsp. philibertii | ||||
Name authority | (Hedwig) Schimper: in P. Bruch and W. P. Schimper, Bryol. Europ. 5: 164. (1852) | (Kindberg) H. A. Crum: Bryologist 68: 434. (1966) | ||||
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