Montana Field Guide

Plants: Acrocarpous. Growing in open clumps of erect shoots, somewhat glossy, pale green, sometimes with yellow tinges. Stems 2-11 cm tall (FNA 2007).

Leaves: Somewhat distantly spaced (FNA 2007), the base wide (Lawton 1971), suddenly narrowing to a slender, lance-shaped, subtubulose limb spreading ca 90 degrees, somewhat spiraled and undulate when dry, cupped when damp, 2.5-3 mm in length; apex slender, narrow and hood-like; base prominently extending down the stem; margins freely scalloped at the very far end of the apex (FNA 2007), smooth elsewhere (Lawton 1971); costa nearly reaching the apex, smooth on the dorsal face (FNA 2007).

Leaf Cells: Laminal cells smooth, not porose; upper laminal cells long (4-9:1), slender and quadrangular; basal laminal cells longer than the upper cells, quadrangular and very slender, yellow at the leaf attachment, frequently inflated in the lower basal angles (Crum & Anderson et al. 1981); costa in X-section with an abaxial stereid band and 2-3 guide cells (Lawton 1971).

Fruit ripens in spring (FNA 2007).

Dicranella plants are similar to Dicranum species, but are not as large and have alar cells that are barely differentiated (FNA 2007).

Wet rock and soil (Elliott 2016), occasionally briefly inundated with water (FNA 2007), in watercourses and wet areas; frequently montane (Lawton 1971). Elevation: low to moderate (FNA 2007).

Dioicous. Sporophytes infrequent (Lawton 1971). Male and female plants similar in size. Seta single, spiraled when dry, 10-30 mm tall, deep red, turning brown with age. Capsule bowed, only slightly tilted, 1-1.5 mm in length, smooth; peristome single, with 16 teeth, the teeth red, papillose and vertically lined, 2-lobed with the division reaching ca halfway down. Calyptra hood-like, concealing ca 1/2 of the capsule, falling away when the capsule ripens (FNA 2007).