Montana Field Guide

Plants: Growing in open, upright clumps or mats, olivaceous, and frequently with greyish tones above, brown below. Stems mostly 3-5 cm in height (up to 7 cm), a little bowed and inclined to erect, few-branched; central strand not present (FNA 2007).

Leaves: Upright and flat against the stem when dry, spreading a little when wet, 2.5-3.5 mm in length, 0.5-0.9 mm in width, sickle-shaped to straight, stiff and a little delicate; margins on one side widely curved back and down, narrowly so on the other side for part of the length; costa extending to the leaf tip and quite strong, convex and channeled ventrally, level on the outer surface; hair-pointed, the awn 0.4-1.1 mm in length, wide and robust, finely and sharply toothed on the margins, and with tiny, sharp spines on the dorsal surface, slightly decurrent (FNA 2007).


Leaf Cells: Margins of 2 cell layers for part of 1 or 2 cell rows distally (occasionally interspersed with 1-layer patches); costa in X-section below and at mid-leaf of 3 cell layers and 6-9 big dorsal cells, above of 2 layers and 5-8 dorsal cells; laminal cells very wavy and minutely knobbed, prominently pseudopapillose (from lengthwise cuticular hills), and 1 cell-layer thick; basal cells somewhat long, with spiraled thickenings near the attachment; alar cells somewhat distinguished, occasionally regionalized as a yellow cluster; basal border of ca a dozen wavy, incrassate cells or else undistinguished; middle and upper cells erratically isodiametric to short and oblong, becoming wider than long at the margins (FNA 2007).

The very similar Bucklandiella sudetica has a costa that is round in X-section rather than flattened on the dorsal surface (FNA 2007).

Dry, noncalcareous stones in open habitats; mostly montane. Elevation: 70-8860 feet (FNA 2007).

Seta 1-3 in a perichaetium, twisted clockwise above, 25-55 mm tall. Capsule 1.3-1.9 mm in length, 0.6 mm in width, creased when dry, brown; peristome dentitions ochre, erratically covered with 2- to 3-lobed papillae (FNA 2007).