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A Claopodium Moss - Claopodium crispifolium
General Description
Plants: Pleurocarpous (Vitt 1988). Growing in uncrowded mats, green or green with yellow tones (FNA 2014), eventually turning brown (Lawton 1971). Stems creeping, somewhat pinnate, 4-8 cm long; paraphyllia not present (FNA 2014).
Leaves: Curved inward and twisted when dry, upright and spreading when wet, egg-shaped, to 3 mm in length (FNA 2014), 0.4-0.8 mm in width, sometimes curving to one side, narrowing to the long hair-point (Lawton 1971); leaf tip a long acumen, piliferous (FNA 2014), the hair-point hyaline; base with auricles extending down the stem (Lawton 1971); margins finely saw-toothed, bordered; costa pellucid, not reaching the apex, the dorsal side smooth. Branch leaves resembling stem leaves (FNA 2014).
Leaf Cells: Alar cells not distinct from surrounding cells; upper medial laminal cells nearly square to 6-sided, each cell with 1 papilla (FNA 2014); cells of the hair-point long, without papillae; juxtacostal basal cells long and thin, a little porose; margins consisting of smooth, slender cells in 1 or 2 series. Cells of branch leaf hair-points and margins not so distinguished from surrounding cells as those of the stem leaves (Lawton 1971).
Diagnostic Characteristics
Claopodium bolanderi is similar to C. crispifolium, but occurs at higher elevations (to about 6560 feet) and grows more often on rock rather than wood (Lawton 1971).
Range Comments
North American Range
AK, BC and AB, s to CA, ID and MT (FNA 2014). Known in Montana from Flathead, Glacier, and Lake Counties (Elliott 2014).
Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 3
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Relative Density
Recency
(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)
Habitat
Wet soil (Elliott 2016), decaying wood, soil over stones, on the bottoms of trees (FNA 2014).
Reproductive Characteristics
Dioicous. Perigonia tiny, occurring on the stems, the perigonial leaves ca 0.5 mm in length. Perichaetia arising from the stem, lighter in color, with longer acumina (Lawton 1971). Seta coarse, 10-20 mm tall. Capsule brown, 1.5-3 mm in length, nearly level to inclined, contracted proximal to the mouth when dry; operculum long-beaked (FNA 2014), frequently as long as the theca and somewhat askew (Lawton 1971); exostome divisions lance-shaped, bordered, with numerous delicate ridges and papillae, the papillae above and below; endostome cilia knobby (FNA 2014).
Specialized vegetative reproduction not present (FNA 2014).
References
- Literature Cited AboveLegend:
View Online Publication- Elliott, J.C. and A.K. Pipp. 2018. A Checklist of Montana Mosses (1880-2018). Updated 3 January, 2020. Montana Natural Heritage Program, Helena, Montana. 73 pp.
Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 2014. Flora of North America North of Mexico. Volume 28. Bryophytes: Mosses, Part 2. Oxford University Press, Inc., NY. xxi + 702 pp.- Lawton, E. 1971. Moss Flora of the Pacific Northwest. Hattori Botanical Laboratory. Japan: Yamabuki-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo. 362 pages plus appendices.
- Vitt, D. J. Marsh, and R. Bovey. 1988. Mosses, Lichens & Ferns of Northwest North America. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. 296 p.
- Additional ReferencesLegend: View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?- Elliot, J. C. 1993. Second checklist of Montana mosses. Unpublished report. U.S. Forest Service, Region 1. Missoula, MT. 45 pp.
- Lawton, E. 1971. Keys for the Identification of the Mosses on the Pacific Northwest. Reprinted from 'Moss Flora of the Pacific Northwest'. Published as Supplement No. 2 of the Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory. Nichinan, Miyazaki, Japan. 66 pp.
- Malcolm, B., N. Malcolm, J. Shevock, and D. Norris. 2009. California Mosses. Nelson, New Zealand: Micro-Optics Press. 430 pp.
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