Montana Field Guide

Plants: Acrocarpous (Vitt 1988), growing in loose clumps of upright shoots (FNA 2014), green, sometimes with yellow tones (Lawton 1971). Stems 8-50 mm in height (FNA 2014), frequently forked (Lawton 1971).

Leaves: Upright and loosely appressed, typically a little curved, bent or twisted when dry, spreading, sometimes broadly, when damp (FNA 2014), the tips curved back and downward (Crum and Anderson et al. 1981), 3-4 mm in length, lance-shaped, sometimes slenderly so, tapering to the slenderly acute or sometimes apiculate leaf tip; leaf edges smooth, curved or rolled back nearly to the leaf apex (FNA 2014); costa nearly reaching the leaf tip (Lawton 1971).

Leaf Cells: Upper lamina of 1 cell-layer, the cells chlorophyllous (Crum and Anderson et al. 1981), somewhat round and isodiametric (FNA 2014), sometimes elongated (Lawton 1971), with 1-3 large, cone-shaped or 2-lobed papillae over each lumen; lower laminal cells oblong and somewhat long with thick, knobby or undulating walls (FNA 2014).

Evergreen and hardwood trees, stone. Occurring from lowlands to about 6560 feet in elevation (FNA 2014).

Autoicous. Seta twisted, 1-3 mm tall. Capsule 1.5-2.4 mm in length, borne beyond the perichaetial bracts or seldom partially obscured by them, with 8 somewhat faint, longitudinal ribs or folds reaching about halfway down the capsule (FNA 2014) or occasionally to the capsule’s bottom (Lawton 1971); stomata at the capsule surface; exostome of 8 teeth curving back and downward (FNA 2014) like a cup handle rather than reflexed (Crum & Anderson et al. 1981), the teeth apices near the capsule wall (Lawton 1971), with large papillae; endostome processes 8, typically still around when the capsule has dried, also with large papillae. Calyptra cone-shaped, sheltering the full length of the capsule, a little hairy, the hairs with delicate papillae (FNA 2014).