Montana Field Guide

Plants: Acrocarpous. Growing in open clumps of erect shoots, shiny, yellow or yellow with green tones. Stems 2-8 cm; rhizoids pale to russet, barely forming a woolly mat (FNA 2007).

Leaves: Spreading somewhat to loosely upright next to the stem (FNA 2007), sometimes curved to one side (Smith 1980), similar in dry and moist conditions, moderately to strongly wavy crosswise, sometimes slightly cupped, 3.5-6 mm in length, 1-1.5 mm in width, the base lance-shaped, becoming nearly tubular distally due to the incurved margins, the apex nearly obtuse, the upper stem frequently with egg-shaped leaves tipped with a short subula; margins saw-toothed above mid-leaf; costa subpercurrent, occasionally with 2 dorsal, dentate crests near the apex (easiest to see in X-section) (FNA 2007).

Leaf Cells: Lamina 1 cell-layer thick, the cells smooth, the walls lacking bulges; distal laminal cells wavy and short, very slender, porose (FNA 2007); lower laminal cells slender and quadrangular (Smith 1980), wavy and long, porose; alar cells distinct, inflated (FNA 2007), brownish (Smith 1980), the alar region occasionally reaching the nerve, 2 cell-layers thick; costa in X-section with faint ventral and dorsal stereid bands, a guide cell row, the superficial ventral cells not distinct, the superficial dorsal cells with just a few distinct cells distally (FNA 2007).

Fruit ripens in spring (FNA 2007).

This species is easily confused with the numerous variable characteristics of Dicranum scoparium. However, D. scoparium typically has 4 toothed, dorsal crests on the costa near the leaf apex rather than 2, and prefers soil or humus in dry to moist woods, bottoms of trees and old wood rather than eutrophic fens (FNA 2007).

Primarily in fens high in mineral nutrients, occasionally non-acidic stones or soil (FNA 2007), well-drained grassy meadows (Smith 1980); calcareous areas (FNA 2007).

Small male plants epiphytically growing on female plants’ rhizoids. Inner perichaetial bracts enveloping the stem, narrowing suddenly above to a long acumen. Seta spiraled when dry, 25-35 mm tall, seldom 2 in a perichaetium. Capsule somewhat ochre, bowed, tilted to level, 2.5-3 mm in length; peristome of 16 teeth, separated ca halfway down into 2 lobes (seldom 3), russet, with papillae above. Calyptra hood-like, hairless, sheltering much of the capsule, falling away easily (FNA 2007).