Montana Field Guide

Plants: Acrocarpous. Growing in clumps of upright shoots (Crum & Anderson et al., 1981), yellowish (FNA 2007) or yellow-green (Lawton 1971). Stems 3-10 mm tall (FNA 2007).

Leaves: Nearly upright to curved and pointing toward one side, to 2 mm in length, lance-shaped, steadily narrowing to form a subula; margins occasionally finely toothed at the very end of the apex and faintly toothed or slightly ragged at the junction of base and limb; costa extending well beyond the apex and filling much of the subula (FNA 2007).

Leaf Cells: Laminal cells smooth, not porose, long and quadrangular (FNA 2007), 6-10:1, disappearing ca halfway or a little further up the leaf as the subula narrows (Crum & Anderson et al., 1981), the lamina 2 cell-layers thick in the very narrow region before it disappears (Lawton 1971); lower laminal cells quadrangular and very slender; alar cells not distinct (FNA 2007); costa in X-section near the base with guide cells (5-10), at the leaf midpoint with guide cells, a small abaxial stereid band, and a few adaxial stereid cells (Lawton 1971).

Fruit ripens in spring and through summer (FNA 2007).

Moist soil along watercourses and banks of roads (Crum & Anderson et al., 1981). Elevation: low to moderate (FNA 2007).

Dioicous. Perichaetial leaves longer than the vegetative leaves, the base enveloping the stem and suddenly constricted to a subula spreading to ca 90 degrees. Female and male plants similar in size. Seta single, spiraled when dry, 9-13 mm tall, red, growing much darker with age. Capsule tilted or drooping, longitudinally lined or grooved, 0.7-1 mm in length; peristome single, with 16 teeth, the teeth red, papillose distally, lined or pitted proximally, 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).