Taxonomy
Family: Climaciaceae
Habitat
Humus or soil in swampy places.
Associates
Distribution
Circumpolar; in North American from northern Quebec west to AK, south to PA, WI, NM, AZ, and CA; New Zealand.
Morphology
Robust, erect, dendroid moss; dull, dark green or yellow-brown, shiny when dry. Branch leaves erect, smooth to sulcate, 2-3 mm long, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, more or less rounded at the base, occasionally slightly auriculate; upper median cells oblong-rhomboidal; alar cells pale, thin-walled, slightly inflated in small, inconspicuous groups. Setae 1.8-4.5 cm long; capsules 1.5-3 mm long, oblong cylindric; operculum more or less rostrate. Spores spherical, 12-22 μm, minutely papillose.
Notes
Spreads by horizontal, subterranean stems. Sporophytes rarely produced.
References
Crum, H. 2004. Mosses of the Great Lakes Forest, 4th ed.
The University of Michigan Herbarium. Ann Arbor, MI
Michael Hough © 2010 |