Flora of North America species comparison

leaves firm, coarse, rigid, uniform in size and shape along the stem and apex, lowermost leaves mostly without leaf tips, leaves typically fragile only at base of deciduous apical subula, stiffly erect-appressed, incurved (or stem-apical leaves somewhat twisted around the stem when dry);

erect and weakly spreading when moist, narrowly lanceolate to linear, narrowing gradually into the distal region until contracting into a narrower propaguloid region up to 1/2 the distal leaf length; broadly to narrowly concave, keeled toward the apex in nonpropaguloid leaves, 4–6 mm;

base broadly oblong;

margins plane to erect, not to somewhat undulate;

apex narrowly acute, those of nonmodified leaves shallowly channeled to subnaviculate, not cucullate, those of modified leaves long-subulate, fragile, the subula obtusely thickened and multi-stratose distally and often broken off, youngest leaves arising from the stem apex fully propagulose and subulate;

costa short-excurrent as a smooth or weakly denticulate mucro of 1–5 rhomboidal cells, in propaguloid leaves, internal cells in section appearing undifferentiated in the subula;

adaxial surface covered by quadrate to short-rectangular, papillose laminal cells throughout the leaf except in the propaguloid leaf portion where a narrow medial groove is covered by elongate (8:1) smooth cells;

cross section lunate and broad, adaxial epidermal cells may be interrupted in the center, exposing the adaxial stereid layer by about two cells in width, in propaguloid leaves stereid layers appear undifferentiated in the subula;

proximal laminal cells rather abruptly differentiated from distal cells, yellow-hyaline, elongate, firm to laxly thin-walled, smooth;

margin with a narrow line of firm- to thin-walled cells extending a short way up the lamina or to mid-leaf;

distal laminal cells frequently 2-stratose on one or both laminae beside the costa, or equally extending toward the margins in various degrees, and becoming completely 2-stratose and ultimately undifferentiated in the, deciduous leaf tips, rounded-quadrate or hexagonal, (9–)10–12(–13) µm wide, strongly papillose, areolation more or less distinct;

marginal cells in median leaf region undifferentiated, papillose-crenulate, along the distal median margin and into the subula differentiated as one or two rows of smooth, thick-walled, short-rectangular, (4–3:1), epapillose, yellowish cells leading into the subulate region and extending to the apex distinctly visible in at least some leaves, sometimes present only in young leaves on mature stems.

leaves cirrhate-crispate to incurved when dry, spreading to recurved when moist, elongate-oblong to linear-lanceolate or linear-subulate, widest at or near the base;

base hyaline, oblong, erect;

margins plane to incurved distally, generally entire and minutely crenulate by projecting papillae, but often slightly or irregularly scalloped by indentations at points of laminal weakness, occasionally somewhat to strongly undulate, rarely with a border of elongate, clear, smooth cells in one series beyond midleaf, gradually tapering distally or more or less abruptly narrowed;

apex acute or obtuse, cucullate or concave, with an apiculus, mucro or short subula;

costa strong, percurrent to short-excurrent, adaxial and abaxial epidermal cells often present, often interrupted, adaxial and abaxial stereid bands and 1 layer of median guide cells present, hydroid strand occasionally present;

proximal cells enlarged, laxly long-rectangular, thin-walled, hyaline, occasionally brown and rather thick-walled, smooth, abruptly differentiated from the green cells distally or gradual in transition, limit of the proximal region usually appears as a V, sometimes a U, often extending distally up each leaf margin as a short or elongated border;

distal laminal cells medially and distally rounded-hexagonal, chlorophyllose, frequently obscured by numerous, dense, C-shaped papillae on both surfaces.

1.5–2 cm, occasionally two per perichaetium.

1(–2) per perichaetium, yellow or reddish proximally with age, to 3 cm, erect, smooth.

dioicous;

perigonia not seen;

perichaetial leaves setaceous, fragile, with propaguloid modifications as in stem leaves.

dioicous, occasionally autoicous;

perigonia terminal, short-foliose to gemmate or as stalked buds in leaf axils of perichaetiate plants;

perichaetia terminal, leaves not or little differentiated, or distinct and long-setaceous.

1.8–3 mm;

annulus none or of 1–2 rows of weakly vesiculose cells, operculum ca. 1.5 mm;

peristome teeth long, spirally wound, twisted 1–3 times.

erect and symmetric or slightly inclined, yellow to reddish brown, darker red or brown at mouth, elliptic to cylindric, more or less wrinkled-plicate when dry and empty;

annulus sometimes present, of 1–4 rows of vesiculose cells, persistent;

operculum conic or long-rostrate, half as long as the urn or longer, straight or inclined;

peristome orange-red, single, with a low basal membrane, of 32 filiform rami joined at the base into 16 pairs, twisted counterclockwise or merely obliquely inclined, branched-spiculose, rarely nearly smooth.

cucullate, smooth.

8–12(–20) µm, yellowish brown, moderately coarsely to finely papillose to nearly smooth.

asexual reproduction by deciduous, subulate, rigid, smooth-sided, distally thickened apices of all leaves.

asexual reproduction at the stem apex occasional, by deciduous or fragile propaguloid leaf tips, or by deterioration of fragile leaves along zones of laminal weakness.