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A Tree Moss - Climacium dendroides
General Description
Plants: Dendroid and green. Erect stems are 2-10 cm tall with imbricate leaves. The upper portion of stem branches (like a miniature tree).
Leaves: Erect stem leaves: 2-2.5 x 1-1.6 mm, nearly ovate, nearly entire, and rounded to cucullate at apex. Branch leaves: 2.5-3.0 x 0.8-1.0 mm imbricate, plicate, oblong-lanceloate, and tapering to the obtuse apex; leaf is rounded with small auricles where it meets the stem. Margins somewhat incurved, strongly toothed at the apex, and serrulate to the base. Costa single, ends before the apex. Branched paraphyllia common.
Leaf Cells: Basal cells shorter, frequently yellow, and walls pitted. Median cells smooth, long and narrow with thick or uneven walls. Alar cells short, quadrate to irregular.
Phenology
Capsules ripen in fall (FNA 2014).
Range Comments
Greenland; Canada: AB, BC, MB, NL, NT, NS, NU, ON, PE, QC, SK, YT; United States: AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, ID, IL, IA, ME, MA, MI, MN, MT, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OR, PA, SD, UT, VT, VA, WA, WI, WY; Mexico (Veracruz); Eurasia; Atlantic Islands (Iceland); Pacific Islands (New Zealand); Australia (FNA 2014). In Montana: Ravalli, Sanders, and Sweet Grass Counties (Elliott 2016).
Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 49
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Relative Density
Recency
(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)
Habitat
Wet soil or rotten logs. Often near streams or other wet places. Low to high elevations.
Reproductive Characteristics
Seta usually 1.5-2.5 cm long. Capsule yellow-brown to brown, cylindric.
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.
- 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 Unpublished report.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.
- Flowers, S. 1973. Mosses: Utah and the West. Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. 567 p.
- 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.
- Lawton, E. 1971. Moss Flora of the Pacific Northwest. Hattori Botanical Laboratory. Japan: Yamabuki-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo. 362 pages plus appendices.
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